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YouTube Kids will now take better control of what videos end up in your children’s feed
STATES CHRONICLE – Over the past few months, YouTube has been on an intense mission to take better control of its content. While the platform managed to deal with extremist videos or intrusive ads, a new problem suddenly arose. A recent report revealed a worrying number of disturbing videos targeted at children which surfaced on the platform.
Disturbing videos targeted at children ended up on YouTube Kids
Recently, many people stumbled upon weird videos making use of kid-friendly characters. However, these videos were far from being appropriate for children, but they could easily end up in their suggestions. As soon as the company was informed about it, YouTube said it would prevent the monetization of such videos, and would prevent people from creating such content.
However, some videos might still escape these regulations. Therefore, the platform decided to impose a new age limit. This way, it hopes it will be able to perform a better filtering of the content. Also, this will change the flagging of videos, which will be labeled as inappropriate to view under certain ages.
YouTube will improve its filtering system
Juniper Downs, the director of policy at YouTube, explained how this new system should work.
“We’re in the process of implementing a new policy that age restricts this content in the YouTube main app when flagged. Age-restricted content is automatically not allowed in YouTube Kids.”
Just like any other platform displaying visual content, YouTube might sometimes have to censor some of it. Children are easy to manipulate through appealing videos, so viewing something inappropriate for their age can mean a lot. Therefore, the video platform requires better filters, especially for the special version of the app, YouTube Kids.
From now on, if a video published on the main YouTube app wants to enter YouTube Kids as well, it will undergo a lot of tests before being approved. This way, the platform can make sure nothing unsuitable escapes its filters.
Image Source: Flickr
