TikTokers are testing family and friends by playing PornHub's music, testing whether they recognize the sound

• A TikTok audio titled "hey lol" by @khaleel mashes up the PornHub music and the song "Redbone."
• People are playing the sound for their friends and family to see if they're familiar with it.
• Parodies already exist, with people showing their dogs responding to the sound.

TikTokers are using an audio that mashes up pornography streaming site PornHub's introduction music with "Redbone" by Childish Gambino to supposedly test whether or not their friends and family members are familiar with the PornHub sound. In particular, older siblings are attempting to use the audio to see whether or not their younger siblings are familiar with the sound.

The audio, titled "hey lol," was uploaded by TikTok user Khaleel Abdullah (@khaleel) in a January 19 video. The video shows Abdullah sitting at a desk with the animated PornHub logo playing on the screen; he pantomimes someone else opening the door on him and the music seamlessly switches to "Redbone" along with the image on the computer.

Abdullah told Distractify that he had been inspired by a skit that he saw on TikTok that showed someone watching PornHub when their mom walked in, and that he didn't expect the sound itself to spread on TikTok.

The drum and bass lick at the beginning of the audio (just prior to Childish Gambino singing the word "daylight") is a signature PornHub sound - it plays at the beginnings of certain videos on the pornography hosting website as the animated PornHub community logo unfurls onscreen.

In February, other TikTok users began to pick up the sound from Abdullah's video and turned it into a challenge. It's not exactly clear where it started Some outlets have linked it a David Dobrik TikTok video, but other videos associated with the challenge predate his.

The idea is this: play the audio out loud in the vicinity of a friend, partner, or family member, and try to catch them on video responding to the PornHub music. Many of the videos show what appear to be older siblings playing the audio for their younger siblings or family members, presumably to see whether or not they had accessed PornHub before.

In the process, they've amassed millions of likes and views, like this one from TikTok user @zaypelzer, who said in a later TikTok video that he's "actually just gonna assume [the child in the videos] looks up bc he sees the camera's on him lmao."

Panic over children watching porn is perennial, as are some of the awkward conversations that can result from discovering that a child has accessed porn. The New York Times reported in 2012 that children may be exposed to porn as early as six or seven years old. PornHub itself recently pulled videos from unverified users in December 2020 following allegations of illegal, child sex abuse content on the platform.

In 2020, sex educator Shafia Zaloom wrote for the Times that many kids come across porn (and at times seek it out), and that parents should speak with their children without shaming or judgment about how pornography isn't an accurate representation of sex. The Conversation reported in 2020 as well that many children are more upset at the prospect of their parents being angry with them for watching porn than about the porn itself.

It's unclear if these prank videos are leading to any kind of discussion with the children supposedly reacting to the PornHub sound, but the trend extends past just siblings attempting to catch each other. TikTokers are playing the sound for other adults around them as well.

Like many TikTok trends, the "hey lol" sound has already spun into parody, with people making videos with their dogs and feigning shock when they respond.

Still, plenty of people have criticized the trend given that any sound (or other factors like camera attention) could cause someone to respond in some way.

"The trend with this sound - you know the sound - is so pointless to me because if I heard any sound I would turn my head," TikToker @mattheperson said in a video. "Like you could say the most boring thing and I would turn my head."