Not Quite YouTube Kids, Not Quite Full YouTube

YouTube is releasing a new beta setting to assist parents when their tweens and teens are outgrowing YouTube Kids but they may not be quite ready to turn over the keys to the full YouTube experience. Director of product management, kids and family James Beser explained in a blog post Wednesday, “From our earliest days, YouTube has been a platform for people over 13, and we’ve always recommended that parents co-watch with their kids if they choose to watch YouTube. In 2015, we created YouTube Kids, a safer destination for kids to explore their interests while providing parental controls. But since then, we’ve heard from parents and older children that tweens and teens have different needs, which weren’t being fully met by our products. As children grow up, they have insatiable curiosity and need to gain independence and find new ways to learn, create and belong.” On that note, YouTube will introduce supervised experiences via supervised Google accounts in beta in more than 80 countries over the coming months, beginning its beta with families that have kids under their respective countries’ age of consent. Parents will be able to choose between three content settings: Explore: This setting will feature a broad range of videos generally suitable for viewers nine and older, including educational content, gaming videos, music clips, news, tutorials and vlogs.Explore More: Content generally suitable for viewers 13 and up will include a larger set of videos and livestreams in the categories mentioned above.Most of YouTube: Only age-restricted content will be excluded, and this setting may only be appropriate for older teens. YouTube Beser wrote, “This option was designed for parents who think their children are ready to explore the vast universe of YouTube videos. We will use a mix of user input, machine learning and human review to determine which videos are included. We know that our systems will make mistakes and will continue to evolve over time.” Parents will also be able to manage watch and search history within their kids’ account settings and use other controls via Google’s Family Link, such as screen timers. More parental controls will be added over time, such as blocking content. Personalized ads and ads in certain categories will not be served to this age group, and comments, creation and in-application purchases will be disabled. YouTube said it will work with parents and experts to introduce some of those features in an age-appropriate and parent-controlled manner. As for YouTube Kids, the platform has over 35 million viewers every week in more than 80 countries, and Beser said YouTube will continue expanding its availability, adding new features and bolstering parental tools, including the highly requested option of enabling parents to choose specific videos and channels from the main YouTube platform to grant their kids access to via YouTube Kids. He concluded, “We know that we have a long journey ahead of us as we design this experience for parents of tweens and teens. Over the long term, we hope this will provide a safer environment for older children to explore their interests, learn new skills and connect with communities that share their passions, while giving parents more ways to support their kids' online experience.”