YouTube is working on content control features that lets parents regulate kids viewing experience
YouTube is said to be working on content control features that will allow parents regulate what their kids watch on the platform. The company already has YouTube Kids for children, but these new content settings is aimed at kids graduating from YouTube Kids to regular YouTube. So to help protect them from inappropriate content — because they’re still too young — the company will launch a new experience in beta for parents to allow their children to access YouTube through a “supervised Google Account.”
This supervised account Google is calling “supervised experiences” will include content settings that parents can select based on what they feel is best for their wards at that particular time. Parents will have three content settings to choose from including an Explore setting, Explore More and Most of YouTube settings. Here’s how YouTube explained them;
Explore: For children ready to move on from YouTube Kids and explore content on YouTube, this setting will feature a broad range of videos generally suitable for viewers ages 9+, including vlogs, tutorials, gaming videos, music clips, news, educational content and more.
Explore More: With content generally suitable for viewers ages 13+, this setting will include an even larger set of videos, and also live streams in the same categories as “Explore.”
Most of YouTube: This setting will contain almost all videos on YouTube, except for age-restricted content, and it includes sensitive topics that may only be appropriate for older teens.
Moving on, YouTube says it will use a “mix of user input, machine learning and human review” to determine which videos are included in these settings. However, the company is not banking on these systems to work 100% because it’s not perfect yet, but will get better with time. That’s why the company still advise parents to be involved in “guiding and supporting” kids experience on YouTube.
“We recommend parents continue to be involved in guiding and supporting their child’s experience on YouTube. To help parents get started, we’ve developed a guide in partnership with National PTA, Parent Zone and Be Internet Awesome. We’ll also launch an ongoing campaign that features creators discussing themes like bullying and harassment, misinformation, digital well-being and more” the company said in a blogpost.
