If you've ever been to the 'weird' world of YouTube, you'll know that there's a lot of content on that platform that should be kept away from kids. The problem is, a lot of parents today think that handing a kid a tablet with YouTube on it is a substitute for actual parenting. Considering how YouTube's video recommendation algorithm works (or doesn't), one runs the risk of their kids being exposed to particularly nasty content.
That may change soon, though. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the top brass at YouTube is considering moving all children’s content into a separate product, which is most likely the kid-friendly version of the video-sharing app: YouTube Kids. The move is a rather interesting one, considering that children's videos are very popular on the platform and make for millions of dollars worth of ad revenue.
YouTube Kids is far from perfect, though
While separating the two platforms may be beneficial for kids, it may not protect them from all harmful content. YouTube Kids has people manually 'curating' playlists, but the service has still had instances of nasty videos making their way into the app and frankly, there's not much that can be done about it. Time and again, we've seen that screaming "will someone think of the children" does nothing to actually protect children and YouTube appears to be going down the same path.
The article also mentions Sundar Pichai becoming more “personally involved in steering [YouTube] through recent stumbles.” YouTube has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons and The Wall Street Journal speculates that the CEO wants to step in to ensure that the platform doesn't get any more bad press. Employees are also pushing the company to switch off the recommendations system for kids that automatically plays a new video after the current one finishes. This is a good move as it will prevent kids from getting into a never-ending video binge on the app.
About the author: Anil has been a lifelong tech enthusiast and has worked a variety of jobs before joining the Wccftech team in 2018. His primary responsibilities include reporting on all things in the Android and mobile gaming sphere. He is also passionate about PC hardware, obscure music and internet culture. He also has a thing for addressing himself in third person as an exercise in self-awareness.
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