YouTube is working on a new feature that will make it easier for parents to control which videos their teens can watch, the company reported in a Wednesday blogpost.
The new feature is aimed at teens and what the platform calls tweens: kids between the ages of eight and 12. According to the company, they are now left out because they feel too old for YouTube Kids, the child-friendly version of YouTube. At the same time, they are often not yet mature enough to watch all the videos on the platform.
Parents can choose three different settings in their account: ‘explore’ (suitable for children aged nine and older), ‘explore more’ (suitable for children aged 13 and older) and ‘most of YouTube’ (all content except age-restricted videos).
It is not clear exactly what content is allowed at the different levels. In any case, YouTube says that at the explore level, kids can watch different types of videos, including vlogs, tutorials, game videos, and music clips.
YouTube hopes the filters will help parents slowly introduce their aging children to age-appropriate videos and features outside of the YouTube Kids app.
The project is still in its infancy: the company wants to release a beta version in the coming months to introduce a select group of parents to the new features. It is therefore not yet known whether the filters will actually be implemented.
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