YouTube Kids in Hot Water
Written by wdkxwp on February 27, 2019
A Florida mom was recently taken aback when she found multiple shocking videos on YouTube Kids. The animated videos contained disturbing content relating to gun violence and school shootings, sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, glorifying suicide, and domestic violence. Blatant cursing can also be heard in many of the videos.
In one particular instance, a mother watching YouTube Kids with her son recalled a video being spliced with another that gave children instructions on how to kill themselves. The second video featured a man in sunglasses explaining to kids how to slit their wrists.
How is this even possible? It’s a kid’s app! The mom took time out to record the videos to alert other parents to monitor their children’s usage on the app.
YouTube Kids removed the videos from the site after a week of reports from concerned parents and responded to the situation saying,
“We’ve also been investing in new controls for parents including the ability to hand pick videos and channels in the app. We are making constant improvements to our systems and recognize there’s more work to do.”
