YouTube has implemented new measures that give parents more control over their teenager’s viewing habits, including limiting the time they spend on short videos and steering them to more age appropriate content.
The Google-owned platform has also simplified account set-up, with built in protections that help parents ensure their child is accessing the right content for their age group
The new controls are designed to help teenagers be more “intentional” about their YouTube viewing, with the option for parents to limit time on YouTube Shorts at certain times, such as studying or homework, and allow children extra time at others, for example on long car journeys.
“Soon, parents will see the option to set the timer to zero. This is an industry-first feature that puts parents firmly in control of the amount of short-form content their kids watch,” YouTube said.
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Parents of supervised accounts will also be able to set bedtime and break reminders for their child.
“Our approach on YouTube is to protect kids and teens in the digital world, not from the digital world. Across Europe there is a really important debate that is happening about the best way to do that,” said Dr Garth Graham, global head of YouTube Health.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time. The focus on families is not new. We built tools to help parents set the right digital boundaries for their kids over 10 years ago. The updates are designed to help parents further shape the YouTube experience especially for teens.”
YouTube has also set out new principles for content aimed at teens, and developed a guide for content creators to help them to stay safe online.
The announcement came amid wider scrutiny over what underage users are being exposed to online. Authorities in the EU have also brought in new rules that compel platforms to verify age to access some content and protect younger users.
In recent days, there have been calls to investigate social media platform X over its Grok chatbot’s ability to manipulate images of women and children to sexualise them. The platform faced backlash over images of women and underage users that were edited and digitally undressed using the Grok chatbot and posted on X.
