YouTube is older than the YouTube Kids app for schoolchildren on February 24, but teenagers and tweens (8-) say they’re not ready to explore the entire YouTube world. We will soon introduce a new experience designed for (12 years old). The company says it is preparing to launch a beta test of a new feature that allows parents to restrict their children’s access to YouTube through a “supervised” Google account. This feature limits what tweens and teenagers can watch on YouTube, as well as what they can do on the platform, such as video production and comments.
Many parents may have already set up a Google account for their children, supervised through Google’s Family Link parental control app. The app allows parents to restrict access to various products and services, manage screen times, and filter websites. Some parents may also have created a Google account with their child’s supervision when the child first set up an account on a new Android device or Chromebook.
If not, you can create a supervised account for your child in minutes if you can try out the new features. (Unfortunately, the Google Edu accounts currently used by children at online schools are not supported at launch).
With the new feature, parents can choose from three YouTube access levels for their children. First of all, YouTube provides features for parents with children of an age that requires parental consent to use online services (13 years or younger in the United States, but varies from country to country), and then children of other age groups. Is added to the target.
Image credit: YouTube
For Tweens who have just graduated from the YouTube Kids app, there is an “Explore” mode that allows you to watch a variety of videos that are generally suitable for viewers over the age of nine. This includes blogs, tutoring videos, gaming videos, music clips, news and educational content. This will allow children to watch something like their favorite gaming streamer that provides kids-friendly content, but will (in theory) prevent children from seeing more sensitive content.
Next comes the “Explore More” mode. Here, like the PG-13 version of YouTube, the videos you can watch are suitable for people over the age of 13. This will increase the number of videos available and allow children to access live streams in the same category as “Explore”.
For teenagers in their late teens, a “Most of YouTube” mode is available. You can watch almost all YouTube videos, except for age-restricted content that isn’t suitable for people under the age of 18.
Image credit: YouTube
YouTube says it uses user input, machine learning, and reviews to curate which videos to include in three different content settings.
Of course, like YouTube Kids (which means it’s not a perfect system), the curation that users have to flag for videos that haven’t been properly filtered is machine-automated. This means parents who closely control their children’s access to Internet content will want to take advantage of other systems, such as third-party parental control solutions, to further restrict YouTube.
Supervised access to YouTube comes with other restrictions, the company said.
Parents can manage their child’s browsing / searching history from their child’s account settings. And you can disable some YouTube features depending on your child’s access level.
For example, YouTube will not be able to use in-app purchases, video production, and comment functions at launch. He says he wants to work with parents to make some of those features available through something like a parent-controlled approach.
The key is that personalized ads don’t show up in a supervised experience. Even if the content isn’t designed for “kids”. Personalized ads are usually displayed. Instead, all ads are contextual, as they are on YouTube Kids. In addition, all ads must comply with children’s advertising rules, YouTube’s general advertising rules, and are subject to the same categories and advertising content regulations as Made for Kids content.
However, parents agree to COPPA compliance when creating a supervised account for their children. COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) is a children’s privacy law in the United States that requires parents to be informed and consent to the collection and use of personal data in their children’s accounts.
However, the new features may make sense for families with children who aren’t covered by apps designed for young children. Alternatively, some children may be anxious for a “real YouTube” version of their brother or sister. Also, forcing older children to use the “Children” app makes them feel at some point behind their friends. Not all parents use the YouTube Kids app or parental controls, so there’s always (and never goes away) complaining, “Why isn’t everyone else having it?”
Image Credit: YouTube Kids App
This slightly restricted experience allows parents to give their children access to “Real YouTube” with restrictions on what it really means with respect to content and features.
In the announcement, YouTube featured US PTA President Leslie Boggs, UCLA Center for Scholars & Storytellers founder and author of Media Moms & Digital Dads, Dr. Yalda Uhls. New from several youth experts, including Thiago Tavares, founder and chairman of SaferNet Brazil, and Sun Sun Lim, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of Transcendent Parenting. It was revealed that it gained support for the product.
It’s worth noting that this news follows some product updates from YouTube’s rival and fast-growing social video app TikTok. TikTok has launched a number of features aimed at protecting younger users more than ever.
In April 2020, TikTok launched a “family pairing” mode that allows parents to link their child’s account to their own to limit what their child can do with the app and what content they can view (TikTok). Offers a curated experience for children under the age of 13 called Restricted Mode, which can also be set for family pairing). And in January 2021, we changed the privacy settings defaults for users under the age of 18 to more aggressively limit what children can do with the app.
The new product will be in beta “within a few months” in more than 80 countries around the world, YouTube says. It also said it will continue to invest in YouTube Kids for parents with young children.