Although, we did not have a class directly related to this content, I figured as an educator of young people this topic is extremely important. The topic in question is internet safety for youth.

I was given access to the internet at the age of 10, and have seen some pretty harmful, inappropriate, and disturbing content since then. This is part of the reason why I think internet safety education is important.

A few resources have been implemented across platforms to ensure safety, however, are they enough? Let’s take a look into YouTube kids.

“YouTube Kids is designed to be a family-friendly environment aimed at making exploration fun and simple. Kids can discover new and exciting interests while parents and caregivers have access to tools that help guide the YouTube Kids experience.” – YouTube Kids (https://www.youtube.com/kids/)

Now, the concept of YouTube Kids is wonderful! A place where children can explore videos from their favourite creators. A place that parents can let their kids explore without fear, right? Wrong. Anyone can post anything to YouTube Kids. As I was uploading my vlog yesterday, I noticed a feature where you can click “Made For Kids” and it will upload your video to YouTube Kids for anyone under the age of thirteen.

This led to a deep dive. I quickly went to YouTube kids and discovered some pretty unsettling content. Parents posting their mostly nude kids in bathing suit, people making dolls exhibit sexual behaviours, parents punishing kids, and more. This makes me wonder if there are any guidelines to videos, any guidelines that will have videos be removed.

YouTube says that they have a system in place to flag and remove videos, however, that does not align with lot’s of the content I’ve seen.

“YouTube Kids has faced criticism from advocacy groups, particularly the Fairplay Organization, for concerns surrounding the app’s use of commercial advertising, as well as algorithmic suggestions of videos that may be inappropriate for the app’s target audience, as the app has been associated with a controversy surrounding disturbing or violent videos depicting characters from children’s media franchises. Criticism over the videos led YouTube to announce that it would take more stringent actions to review and filter such videos when reported by the community, and prevent them from being accessible from within the YouTube Kids app.” – YouTube Kids Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube_Kids)

The video below also explains the issues with YouTube Kids really well.