How to Restrict YouTube Kids From Playing Only Human-Approved Channels
YouTube Kids has had problems with inappropriate, disturbing, and sometimes downright awful content that eludes algorithms designed to protect young viewers. Video about Peppa Pig drinking bleach. Mickey cuts the girls’ swimwear tops on the beach. Conspiracy theories that the moon landing was a hoax. Sure, there are tools to block certain channels and turn off the search function, but parents tend to fear that the app looks like a bag.
Finally, YouTube Kids offers the solution that remains the most reliable: people. Starting this week, when you choose to disable the search option, you are restricting content to channels that have been reviewed by a real group of reviewers, not an algorithm. A couple quick thoughts: 1) This is a welcome change. And 2) I am very sorry for the employees whose job it is to sit out countless hours of Little Baby Bum. Thanks for your sacrifice.
By default, this option is not selected, so you will have to manually activate it. Here’s how to do it:
- Tap the lock icon at the bottom corner of any app page.
- Read and enter the numbers that appear or enter your own password.
- Select Settings
- In the Content Controls section, tap the Search slide to turn it off.
Also this week, in your child’s profile settings, you can choose from carefully selected channel collections, including DIY, games and Sesame Street. And later this year, YouTube Kids will launch another feature that will let you choose every video and channel your child can watch in the app.
These are some good steps from the video platform, but I’m wondering if they were late. Parents who have witnessed Peppa Pig and Spider-Man’s creepy fakes on their kids’ screens may not be able to shake those images, and YouTube itself is rife with other concerns, including an FTC complaint alleging that Google-owned platform is improper collection personal data from children. We’ll need to see if there are enough new controls for parents to hand over the iPad.