Parents have been shaken recently by media reports about young children accidentally encountering upsetting, offensive or crassly commercial videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids.
To give you an idea, in the YouTube video "Peppa Pig and the Bacon," the character from the popular children's cartoon series is seen eating her father and slicing off strips of her own flesh. Another video shows Peppa wailing and crying as a dentist pulls out her teeth.
Given that headphones and small screens make it hard to keep an eye on what children are watching - and that parents are often distracted by their own technology or other demands - it's important to understand just how YouTube and YouTube Kids work and what children could encounter on their Internet adventures.
As a communicator and author with a background in social media and journalism, I have some ideas about how parents (and social media companies) can make the Internet safer for children.
Know who's policing YouTube content
Parents who grew up watching Barney or Sesame Street on television might assume that children's content on YouTube is policed in the same discerning manner, with broadcasters carefully approving each program and avoiding inappropriate material that could result in a fine or cost them their licences.
YouTube, however, largely regulates itself. The Google-owned video-sharing website relies on its uploaders - who add 400 hours of video to the service every minute - to label their work appropriately. At present, uploaders can only indicate whether a video is for those 18 and older, and videos flagged this way cannot earn money through advertising, which discourages honest appraisal of content by producers. Uploaders can try to increase views by loading popular keywords into headlines and tags, which increases a video's chances of being found in a search, placed in a sidebar or autoplayed as "up next" content. (This is where children can come across content meant for adults.)
YouTube uses computer programs to try to identify problematic content, as well as relying on users to submit complaints. But the complaints feature is not easy to find on the website or on mobile phones.
Find out what your children are watching
The first step in protecting children from inappropriate content is to be familiar with what they're watching.
Sit with them from time to time to see how they're using the sites and what content they're coming across or go to the "history" feature and look back at what they have been watching. If you allow children to use YouTube, warn them they might find material by accident that is upsetting. Reassure them that it's not their fault and impress upon them that when they do see something that concerns them, they should report it to you and to Google, as explained below.
Teach kids how to be media-savvy
While YouTube Kids provides better "childproofing" than YouTube itself, do not assume it is all harmless. It's not uncommon to find marketing to children in the guise of entertainment. "Channels" devoted to unwrapping and enthusing about toys given to their authors are popular both on YouTube and YouTube Kids.
Teach children how to navigate social media sites and how to avoid going down inappropriate paths. Take the time to discuss the differences between impartial reviews, paid endorsements and advertising - distinctions that even grown-ups can find difficult to understand.
Use the filters provided by YouTube (restricted mode) and YouTube Kids to set tight controls on what your children come across. But remember it's not foolproof, so don't let your guard down.
Know how to make a complaint
While YouTube welcomes feedback and encourages complaints about harmful content, it's not entirely obvious how to do so.
The tool is hidden in a submenu titled "Report" with a flag as a rather subtle visual cue. Once you've clicked on it, you can choose from a list of community guidelines violations such as "Violent or repulsive content," "Child abuse" or "Promotes terrorism." Users must be signed in to their Google account to make a complaint.
Google, in its ongoing efforts to deal with inappropriate content on YouTube, has come up with a five-point plan. It promises "tougher and faster application of community guidelines" and to have 10,000 people monitoring content in 2018, an increase of 25 per cent.
Change the channel (in a manner of speaking)
The American non-profit Common Sense Media has been monitoring the types of screens used by children. Between 2011 and 2017, it saw a huge jump - from four to 35 per cent - in the time spent using mobile devices. That was accompanied by a 20 per cent drop in the time spent watching TV or DVDs.
But just because children aren't watching television as often doesn't mean parents have to give up on the curated experience of children's programming. In Canada, there are some mobile-optimized, child-friendly websites in English and French such as CBC Kids, Treehouse TV, Radio Canada or Yoopa.
These services, along with similar ones in the United States, offer a more limited selection than YouTube, but the videos are less risky and potentially have a higher proportion of educational content.
Don't like what you see? Speak up
Google has said it will listen to experts to improve the standards of content on its site. Now is the time to start weighing in with suggestions.
If you're worried about the problem, let Google and your government representatives know. Governments, in particular, have tended to allow giants like YouTube and Facebook to regulate themselves. If they don't do a better job of it by introducing policies that protect consumers, they may need some outside pressure to do the right thing.
David Brake is an Internet consultant and long-time journalist who teaches a UAlberta course in Contemporary Issues in Communications and Technologies. He is the author of Sharing our Lives Online: Risks and Exposure in Social Media.
A longer version of this article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and non-profit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
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