YouTube has announced measures designed to restrict children’s access to disturbing content – particularly videos showing children’s characters in violent or sexual scenes. David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab commented below.
David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab:
“With technology being such an everyday commodity, kids are becoming more and more tech savvy about the internet and exploring its contents. Video content sites such as YouTube are deliberately intuitive which makes their content easily accessible, but does not always display content suitable for children’s eyes.
Music videos featuring violence, guns and nudity, clips of post watershed television programmes and car crash compilations are some examples of the inappropriate content just a few clicks away on the video sharing website. This highlights the potential risks such sites pose if parental controls are not activated or children are left unattended while browsing.
YouTube has announced measures designed to restrict children’s access to disturbing content, but it is inevitable that some will still slip through the net. I would encourage parents to supervise children as far as possible, but also develop a culture of openness within the home and talk about the possible dangers that exist.”
