News U Can Use: “YouTube Kids App and Parent Controls”

"Nearly four years after rolling out YouTube Kids — an app aimed at youngsters that’s supposed to block weird, sexual, violent and otherwise age-inappropriate content on the Google-owned video service — YouTube is finally giving parents and guardians full control over exactly what their children can view.

However, the parent-approved content feature is available only for the Android version of the YouTube Kids app right now; YouTube says it is “coming soon” to the iOS version. YouTube earlier this year announced plans to roll out the white-listing tool, which has been perhaps the most-requested feature among parents.

Since launching in February 2015, the YouTube Kids app has generated more than 70 billion views and now averages over 14 million weekly active viewers. The app is currently available in 40 countries and in 10 languages.

The popular YouTube Kids app, however, has occasionally fallen down on the job: In the past, some disturbing and definitely not kid-friendly videos have been discovered in the app, including content using children’s characters in violent or sexual situations. YouTube uses various algorithms in part to filter the videos that are populated in the kid-targeted app...”

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