Protecting Kids on YouTube

YouTube is one of the best parts of the internet. With more than two billion users around the world, the site’s insane popularity applies to all age groups, particularly kids, who are aggressively targeted by content creators. This is not always a bad thing, but comes with its challenges. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that more than four in five parents let their kids watch YouTube, while at the same time, 61% of those parents said their children had encountered unsuitable content.

Kaspersky’s own research backs up those concerns. In response to a global survey of parents, 27% of parents said their children have seen inappropriate sexual or violent content online, while 14% said their children have received anonymous messages or been exposed to content encouraging them to carry out violent or inappropriate actions.

YouTube’s protections don’t always work. One well-documented and disturbing trend involves the use of knockoff versions of popular kids characters to sneak videos about things like school shootings and suicides on to YouTube Kids.

So what is a parent to do? I’ve written in the past about the importance of communication between parents and their teens, but that may not work as well with younger children. Severely restricting internet access or blocking YouTube altogether may not be realistic, or even desirable, given the limitless, free entertainment that is perfectly suitable for children available on the platform.

So if you do want to keep YouTube in your life, I do recommend the YouTube Kids app, which creates a safe experience, is customizable for parents and, terrifying exceptions aside, should put you mostly at ease. For regular YouTube, it’s a good idea to utilize restricted mode, which can screen out most mature content.

There are also now third-party parental control products that can catch remaining content that may slip through the cracks. Kaspersky recently rolled out a feature that blocks and notifies parents about inappropriate search results including adult content, alcohol, drugs, profanity, tobacco, and racist or prejudicial content. When search results fall into one of those categories or a video is blocked, the child gets a message and the parent is notified. It’s intended to be another layer of defense that can give parents peace of mind, as well as added visibility into what’s happening.

Tech solutions should still be supplemented with old-fashioned methods. Watchful supervision is still important, according to psychologist Emma Kenny, who made a great point in a blog post on the topic. She pointed out that children get a great deal of instruction and supervision when it comes to other areas of their lives, such as sports and schoolwork, and yet their use of technology, which also often requires a level of skill, is often left for them to figure out on their own.

Kids don’t have to be left all alone on YouTube. From phishing scams to the pitfalls of social media to myriad other privacy and safety concerns, the internet is full of enough dangers for young people as it is.