Anne Reed
AFA Journal staff writer
April 2018 – What if we had a world of learning and fun made just for kids? Wouldn’t that be a lifesaver for parents? Some say YouTube Kids is that place – innocent, educational, and entertaining. But, is it really?
Introduced in early 2015, YouTube Kids now has more than 11 million weekly viewers. According to Christine Jones, an experienced online film director and CEO of Naybee Entertainment, YouTube Kids has surpassed networks like Disney and Nickelodeon and has become the new TV for kids.
YouTube Kids is filled with fun sound effects and colorful picture-based navigation tools. Kids simply swipe their way through a vast universe of videos, the bulk of which are cheaply produced by everyday people.
Family-friendly appearance
Most parents assume the app contains only kid-friendly content, and many feel comfortable leaving their children unattended browsing through the app. But in 2017, a rush of disturbingly violent, frightening, and vulgar content made its way through the algorithms, the rules established by the YouTube computer that filters content.
People had begun uploading videos of adults dressed as Disney characters acting out silent film-like stories. Since the videos contained no dialogue or language barrier, the idea took off.
“The trend started out fairly innocent, but it quickly warped into something very strange,” Jones told AFA Journal. “The subject matter got more sensational and inappropriate, featuring images of children crying, injuries, and pranks like drinking pee and pooping on each other.”
According to Common Sense Media, many of the disturbing videos use innocent characters with misleadingly wholesome titles. Also, the video creators have figured out how to use tags (codes that categorize content) to fool the filtering algorithms.
Parental alertness
As parents began to realize that videos and ads seeping through the cracks contained nudity, alcohol, and profanity, a public outcry ensued. YouTube Kids has since removed many of the channels containing the inappropriate videos – but not all.
During the app set-up process, parents are informed, “YouTube Kids is designed to exclude content that’s not appropriate for kids, but we don’t manually review all the videos. It’s possible your child may find something you don’t want them to watch.”
The platform is void of a rating system such as the MPAA scale used by Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, and parental controls are not well developed. A user can choose to age-restrict a video during the uploading process, but since the function is voluntary, it is seldom utilized.
“The only parental controls in the app are a timer, the ability to turn off search, and the ability to block and report individual videos,” said Jones. “There is no option to blacklist or whitelist whole channels. Essentially, [YouTube Kids] trusts its algorithms more than parents to decide what is best for their kids.” 
If you use the YouTube Kids app, closely monitor your child’s use. Take advantage of every safeguard. These three may be activated only as a video appears for viewing.
▶ Set the time limit feature.
▶ Block inappropriate videos.
▶ Turn off the search feature.
Contact The Walt Disney Company and ask them to stop the inappropriate use of their products on YouTube Kids. Call 818-560-1000 or email TWDC.Corp.Communications@Disney.com.
Contact Google (owner of YouTube/YouTube Kids), 650-253-0000 (phone), or 650-253-0001 (fax).
