In the YouTube videos, 11, 12, 13 and 14-year-olds reveal their anxieties about their looks and ask viewers for reassurance.
But instead of being comforted, the youngsters are attacked by notoriously cruel online commentators.
The worrying trend has mushroomed of late, though the videos first started appearing two to three years ago.
One video, uploaded by sgal901, sees a pretty young blonde asking whether she is ugly and posing in a selection of photographs.
Her film has been watched more than 3,505,000 times since being uploaded in December 2010.
The comments that follow are either over-the-top compliments, suggesting sex, or painfully cruel.
One watcher wrote: ‘This is such a stupid video...What stupid person would record a video like this one and then upload on YouTube don’t they notice that they are just embarrassing their self by the way you are ugly the only thing I see in this video is ugliness I see no beauty.’
Others are kinder.
One wrote: ‘Ignore those who comment “ugly”. My opin...
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