YouTube Kids is Lauching on the Web
YouTube will launch a separate website for children after the service was criticized and investigated for showing inappropriate videos to kids on its main site.
The new site, an online version of the YouTube Kids mobile app, will go live later this week, according to Youtube.
YouTube also said its Kids app and website will get new categories for different ages. Preschool will be for children who are 4 years old and younger. “Younger” is for ages 5-7 and “Older” is for those ages 8 to 12.
“We know that what is great content for a 4-year-old may not be great content for a 10-year-old, which is why we want to make it easier for parents to select the right content for their kids on YouTube Kids,” the company said in the blog post.
Videos targeting children have been problematic, partly because YouTube doesn’t manually review all clips and its software can’t easily identify what content is appropriate for young viewers.
The Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether YouTube breached the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The agency has reached a settlement with YouTube, but hasn’t released the terms. To satisfy regulators, YouTube officials are planning to end “targeted” ads on videos that kids are likely to watch.