So a few days ago, me and a tech talked about You Tube in our Boston computer service shop. A father of two elementary school aged children, he got You Tube Kids. But soon, he found stuff on You Tube Kids so disturbing that he cancelled the app altogether. Then I read an article that backs up this father’s concern. You Tube age restriction: Do they work?
So according to one article, even the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is taking note. In fact, they’re looking into practices surrounding You Tube Kids. Lately, they’re are a lot of complaints from family rights and privacy rights groups. Some say they’re collecting data from children under 13. Then, they use it to advertise to these kids. There is a law they call the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. It has strict rules to protect children from data collection. But some advocates say You Tube broke these rules, and try to do so subtly. However, You Tube came up with a ready answer. They say You Tube Kids is for teenagers, 13-17. However, statistics show You Tube Kids’ biggest age demographic is children between the age of 5 and 12. However, You Tube and the advocacy groups are working hard to come up with some kind of solution.
I’m sure advertising was one of his concerns, but it’s not the only one. Because he mentioned inappropriate content that shouldn’t be on You Tube Kids. He’s not the only concerned parent. In fact, recently, they admitted they need to do better job. They’re also using human moderates, not just AI ones, like some other IT service companies do. That alone is disturbing. But I suggest a solution: Create two You Tube Kids apps. Make one for teenagers. Make the other one for kids under 12. That way, parents know which app is proper for which age group. It’s Google/You Tube. They’re one of the richest corporations in the world. They can afford to make two separate, age appropriate You Tube Kids’ networks. If this keeps up, they may not be able to afford not to create two You Tube Kids’ networks. You Tube age restriction: Do They Work?