Parents' Guide to

9Gag

By Leslie Crenna, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Public image and GIF forum too racy, extreme for kids.

Website http://9gag.com
9Gag Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this website.

Community Reviews

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age 18+

Based on 7 parent reviews

Djangoalfred
Djangoalfred Parent of 11 and 15-year-old
September 17, 2022
age 18+

9 Gag, a place for racists and even the admins tollerate it

9 Gag became a meeting-point for alter right and other racists. There is almost no censorship. Either for racist or sexuell content. Administration is just happy they have a lot of clicks. No matter what content users are uploading. Homophobe, racists and pedofil content gets only removed after a specific number of downvotes/reports. BUT if the website is full of people who love such content, there wont be any removals at all. Thats the point why this website became as bad as it is in the current situation. Clicks is the goal no matter what content. Also the app should be removed from all appstores. Especially german people who can get sued in their country find themselfs there and are free to post racists stuff.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
2 people found this helpful.
manimomanimo
manimomanimo Adult
October 27, 2019
age 18+

Not that funny, too extreme

On 9gag there are people who converse and comment in a sensible way, but extreme sexism, mysogyny and racism is very common. Also people who tell you they will kill someone for having another opinion do happen and 9gag doesn't care. I find it shocking to read. Depressed people mostly seem to find great help though.

This title has:

Great messages
Too much violence
Too much sex
2 people found this helpful.
See all 7 parent reviews

What’s It About?

9GAG lets users scroll endlessly through memes, short videos, or plain images or register with an email address for the privilege of commenting on images or uploading (or linking to) their own. Uploads let users add titles and assign two of nine categories: NSFW (not safe for work), Meme, Cosplay, WTF, Cute, Food, Geeky, Comic, and Girl. Users can upvote or downvote images or report content, although there are no guidelines for reporting. Sexual topics are most likely to be encountered in the NSFW category but can pop up just as easily in Hot, Trending, or Fresh. Users can share content they like on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, or email.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (7):
Kids say (3):

9Gag is an image-commentary sharing site (for memes and more) that's super hot with gamers, manga enthusiasts, cosplayers, and young people in general across the world. According to the developer: "9Gag is your best source of happiness. Share any fun, get real responses from people all over the world, and vote on what you laugh at." 9Gag is often LOL funny, occasionally inspirational, and definitely controversial and clearly provides a street-savvy-type education to young people making their way in the world. To illustrate, an image series on pollution in China brings out some thought-provoking reactions and might serve to raise global awareness for some contributors.

Unlike SF-based Imgur, 9Gag offers no meme-creation tool, although the Poster menu item redirects users to a third-party image marketplace. The issue bigger than the violence and the language used on the site, of course, is the pervasive adult-level sexual content found there. This includes partial frontal nudity, videos of staged sexual acts under cover so they aren't seen directly, and clips that suggest sexual acts. The Girl category, mostly glamour shots of models or actresses, exists by itself, meaning there's no corresponding Boy category, which reflects a larger male focus -- even though there does seem to be some balance of female and male viewpoints in the comments. Either way, parents who want to keep their kids innocent just a bit longer may want to add this site to the blocked list.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the whole issue of adult- and kid-appropriate content: Why are these depictions of human bodies not appropriate for kids? Does the fact that they're online or anonymous make a difference?

  • Talk about the nature of public forums: What happens when one user doesn't like what another says? Are opinions accepted or cut down? Do users follow any particular etiquette?

Website Details

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