YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids is an American kids' video app developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The app provides a version of the service oriented towards children, with curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate viewing for children aged under 13.

YouTube Kids
logo as of 2019
Screenshot
Screenshot of the home screen of YouTube Kids
Type of site
Video hosting service
FoundedFebruary 15, 2015 (February 15, 2015)
Headquarters
United States
Area servedWorldwide (excluding blocked countries)
Key peopleSusan Wojcicki (CEO)
Industry
ParentYouTube LLC
URLwww.youtubekids.com
Alexa rank 5,889 (Global, January 2020)[1]
AdvertisingGoogle AdSense
Current statusActive
Content license
Proprietary

First released on February 15, 2015 as an Android and iOS mobile app,[2] the app has since been released for LG, Samsung, and Sony smart TVs, as well as for Android TV.[3][4] As of September 2019, the app is available in 69 countries, including Hong Kong and Macau, and one province.[5] YouTube launched a web-based version of YouTube Kids on August 30, 2019.[6]

YouTube Kids has faced criticism from advocacy groups, particularly the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, 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. The app has also been associated with a controversy surrounding disturbing and/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.

Features

Content

The app is divided into four content categories; "Recommended", "Shows", "Music", and "Learning". The categories feature curated selections of content from channels deemed appropriate for children.[7][8]

In August 2016, the app was updated to support the YouTube Red (now YouTube Premium) subscription service, allowing ad-free playback, background playback, and offline playback for subscribers.[9] In February 2017, YouTube began to introduce premium original series oriented specifically towards YouTube Kids, including DanTDM Creates a Big Scene, Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force, Hyperlinked, and Kings of Atlantis.[10] YouTube has also presented advocacy campaigns through special playlists featured on YouTube Kids, including "#ReadAlong" (a series of videos, primarily featuring kinetic typography) to promote literacy,[11] "#TodayILearned" (which featured a playlist of STEM-oriented programs and videos),[12] and "Make it Healthy, Make it Fun" (a collaboration with Marc and Pau Gasol to promote healthy living and an active lifestyle to children).[13]

In November 2017, the app was updated to add additional user interface modes designed for different age groups, ranging from the existing simplified interface (intended for younger children), to a more dense interface designed for older children.[7]

In September 2018, YouTube added new age group options relating to content offered in the app, "Younger" and "Older". "Younger" maintains the existing mix of content offered before, and "Older" adds more content from other genres, such as nature, gaming, and music.[14] In August 2019, the "Younger" setting was split to add a new "Preschool" group, with a focus on "creativity, playfulness, learning, and exploration".[15]

Parental controls

The YouTube Kids app features parental control settings which allow parents to set time limits, and restrict users from accessing the search tool. Parents can use a passcode or their Google account to protect these settings, and configure profiles for multiple users to tailor their experiences.[16][7]

Reception

Advertising

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) both expressed concern over the use of advertising within the YouTube Kids app, arguing that children would not be able to distinguish the ads from content. Short bumpers were later added to the app in order to establish a separation between advertising and content.[17]

Filtering issues

The YouTube Kids app has faced criticism over the accessibility of videos that are inappropriate for its target audience. The CCFC filed an FTC complaint over YouTube Kids shortly after its release, citing examples of inappropriate videos that were accessible via the app's search tool (such as those related to wine in their testing), and the Recommended page eventually using search history to surface such videos. YouTube defended the criticism, stating that it was developed in consultation with other advocacy groups, and that the company was open to feedback over the app's operation.[18][19] A larger YouTube controversy referred to as "Elsagate" has also been associated with the app, referring to channels which post videos featuring characters from popular franchises (especially, among others, Frozen, Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, and Spider-Man), but with disturbing, sexually suggestive, violent, or otherwise inappropriate themes and content.[20]

YouTube global head of family and children's content Malik Ducard admitted that "making the app family friendly is of the utmost importance to us", but admitted that the service was not curated all the time, and that parents had the responsibility to use the app's parental controls to control how it is used by their children (including disabling access to the search tool).[21] Josh Golin, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, argued that automated algorithms were not enough to determine whether a video is age-appropriate, and that the process required manual curation.[21] He added that "the YouTube model has created something, which is so vast, but there are 400 hours of content are uploaded every minute. It's simply too big. People have been raising these issues for years, just visit any parenting forum and they’ve been talking about the fake Peppa Pig videos."[18]

In November 2017, YouTube announced that it would take further steps to review and filter videos reported by users as containing inappropriate content, including more stringent use of its filtering and age-restriction system to prevent such videos from appearing on the app and YouTube proper.[22] In an update to the YouTube Kids app that month, a more prominent disclaimer was added to its first-time setup process, stating that the service can not fully guarantee the appropriateness of videos that were not manually curated, and informing parents of means to report and block videos that they do not find suitable.[7]

These options expanded further in 2018, with the addition of an option to restrict users to human-reviewed channels and recommendations, as well as a manual whitelisting system.[23][14]

Geographic Availability

YouTube Kids is currently available in the following countries:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada (excluding Quebec), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.[24]

Safety improvements

YouTube Kids was created to be a safe haven for young minds. It still required a bit of improvement. The company has worked diligently to add features to improve the safety of the environment for children. In 2015, the company developers created the YouTube Kids app for multiple platforms. Namely Android and IOS. This came as a bit of relief to parents as it felt like a surefire safe environment to give their kids while on the go, Initially, the app was the primary means of accessing the kids version of YouTube. Later on, the development team at Google (which owns YouTube) developed apps for smart TVs as well as a web browser version giving kids and parents tons of safe options. To promote this safety, YouTube also added app access to certain cable providers set top boxes. This app is essentially the same as the Smart Tv app. As with most Google apps across several platforms, once you sign into your profile your information is brought right along with you using profile management. This is also a new safety feature added to the platform. Having a child-specific profile alleviates the possibility of 2 or more children of different age groups from sharing the same browsing history. Having this capability keeps the recommended and history algorithms from giving the wrong age-rated content to the wrong age. It also keeps kids from having to search endlessly for content and stumbling upon something some parents may deem inappropriate.

On top of developing new features to keep children safe and searching in the right pool of content, YouTube has employed a human curator system. They have employees who approve and sort out content for the YouTube Kids platform specifically. This is a filter with a human eye and a child's safety and healthy development in mind. It allows the parents to disable the search feature and only display recommended content based on the profile age and browse history. While this has had some bias flaws during its existence, it is a far better system than using A.I. and tags in descriptions. All that being said, YouTube Kids still has flaws. Several years worth of complaint and bad reviews have been compiled since its birth in 2015. Many parents have and still complain of unfiltered content sleeping through the safety gate. Many reviewers believe they should be able to leave their child alone with anything on YouTube Kids and not have to fear they will see something damaging to their emotional or psychological health. YouTube has tried to facilitate this but nothing is ever made to be perfect. The website Common Sense Media is flooded with negative reviews and complaints and can give the appearance that the app and platform is more hurtful than helpful. However, in the age of digital entertainment on online viewership, it is one tool parents can use to help battle the ills of the digital domain of which our future generations will surely become a part.

References
  1. "YoutubeKids.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors". www.alexa.com. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  2. Alba, Davey (February 23, 2015). "Google Launches 'YouTube Kids,' a New Family-Friendly App". Wired. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  3. Perez, Sarah. "YouTube Kids comes to smart TVs". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  4. "Android TV app for YouTube Kids now available". Android Police. August 10, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  5. "[Update: 7 more] YouTube Kids expands to six new European countries (including the return of Croatia)". Android Police. February 5, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  6. "YouTube Kids launches on the web". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  7. "YouTube Kids update gives kids their own profiles, expands controls". TechCrunch. November 2, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  8. "Hands On With "YouTube Kids," Google's Newly Launched, Child-Friendly YouTube App". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  9. "YouTube Kids rolls out an ad-free option". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  10. Perez, Sarah. "YouTube Kids gets its own original shows". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  11. "A new reading movement for YouTube Kids". Kidscreen. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  12. "YouTube Kids launches #TodayILearned campaign". Kidscreen. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  13. "YouTube Kids, Gasol brothers get healthy together". Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  14. "YouTube Kids adds a whitelisting parental control feature, plus a new experience for tweens". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  15. "Ahead of FTC ruling, YouTube Kids is getting its own website". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  16. "YouTube Addresses Complaints About Inappropriate Content In Updated YouTube Kids App". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  17. Skwarecki, Beth. "Is YouTube Kids Purposely Training Kids to Watch YouTube Ads?". Lifehacker. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  18. "YouTube Kids has been a problem since 2015 — why did it take this long to address?". Polygon. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  19. "FTC asked to investigate YouTube Kids for deceptively targeting toddlers with ads". The Mercury News. April 6, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  20. "The disturbing YouTube videos that are tricking children". BBC News. March 27, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  21. "On YouTube Kids, Startling Videos Slip Past Filters". The New York Times. November 4, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  22. "YouTube says it will crack down on bizarre videos targeting children". The Verge. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  23. "For the first time, parents will be able to limit YouTube Kids to human-reviewed channels and recommendations". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  24. "System requirements and app availability for YouTube Kids - Android - YouTube Kids Parental Guide". support.google.com. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
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