Related Stories
On YouTube Kids, Startling Videos Slip Past Filters
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times
Posted: November 13th, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/business/media/youtube-ki...
Parents and children have flocked to Google-owned YouTube Kids since it was introduced in early 2015. The apps more than 11 million weekly viewers are drawn in by its seemingly infinite supply of clips, including those from popular shows by Disney and Nickelodeon, and the knowledge that the app is supposed to contain only child-friendly content that has been automatically filtered from the main YouTube site. But the app contains dark corners, too, as videos that are disturbing for children slip past its filters, either by mistake or because bad actors have found ways to fool the YouTube Kids algorithms. In recent months, parents ... have complained that their children have been shown videos with well-known characters in violent or lewd situations and other clips with disturbing imagery, sometimes set to nursery rhymes. Many have taken to Facebook to warn others, and share video screenshots showing moments ranging from a Claymation Spider-Man urinating on Elsa of Frozen to Nick Jr. characters in a strip club. While the offending videos are a tiny fraction of YouTube Kids universe, they are another example of the potential for abuse on digital media platforms that rely on computer algorithms, rather than humans, to police the content that appears in front of people - in this case, very young people. And they show, at a time when Congress is closely scrutinizing technology giants, how rules that govern at least some of the content on childrens television fail to extend to the digital world.
Note: Read a much more in-depth article on serious problems with kids videos on the Internet.For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing corporate corruption news articles from reliable major media sources.
Related Stories
Latest News
Key News Articles from Years Past
