A video explains how to tie a noose, play with matches or taste battery acid. There are cartoons dubbed over with obscenities, an introduction to wine tasting, and beer commercials.<\/p>\n
Consumer groups have dug up these adult-themed videos buried among the cartoons, silly songs and science explainers in the YouTube Kids mobile app.<\/p>\n
Concerned that the videos could be dangerous or disturbing to children, the groups have updated a complaint asking the FTC to investigate the app for unfair and deceptive business practices.<\/p>\n
The original complaint, filed in April, went after Google-owned YouTube for including ads mixed with content. The groups also object to the inclusion of unboxing videos, which show people opening new toys or gadgets.<\/p>\n
The videos have not led to a rash of noose tying, wine-swilling, profanity-spewing toddlers. A handful of parents did leave negative reviews of the YouTube app after their children found inappropriate videos.<\/p>\n
However, the most egregious examples were first compiled by adults — specifically by a company that makes a competing product called KidKam.<\/p>\n
Google criticized for YouTube Kids app
\n“It’s clear that Google is engaged in deceptive marketing when it tells parents that YouTube Kids is a safe place to explore,” said Josh Golin, who works for the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, one of the watchdog groups behind the complaint.<\/p>\n
“Particularly concerning are videos that present adult content in cartoons or using familiar children’s characters such as an expletive-laced parody of the film Casino using Bert and Ernie,” said Golin.<\/p>\n
Other videos the groups managed to dig up include a talk show host mentioning marijuana, a TED talk on suicide, Sarah Jessica Parker in a revealing skirt, and a dance lesson that includes a crotch grab.<\/p>\n
YouTube has a new app just for kids<\/strong> Popular kid channels and content are highlighted on the main screen. Finding edgier clips requires using the app’s search tool for terms that aren’t blocked.<\/p>\n Instead of handpicking what videos show up in the app, YouTube relies on a combination of automated filtering and user flagging to remove inappropriate content.<\/p>\n “We work to make the videos in YouTube Kids as family-friendly as possible and take feedback very seriously,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement.<\/p>\n “We appreciate people drawing problematic content to our attention, and make it possible for anyone to flag a video. Flagged videos are manually reviewed 24\/7 and any videos that don’t belong in the app are removed.”<\/p>\n Google is blocking the inappropriate videos that are flagged, but the CCFC wants YouTube to switch to a pre-filtered approach, where each video is approved before it can appear in the app.<\/p>\n That approach is typical for TV channels, but would be a huge undertaking for YouTube, which is working with a vast library of videos.<\/p>\n Google says concerned parents can turn off the search feature in the app’s settings.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: CNN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A video explains how to tie a noose, play with matches or taste battery acid. There are cartoons dubbed over with obscenities, an introduction to wine tasting, and beer commercials. Consumer groups have dug up these adult-themed videos buried among the cartoons, silly songs and science explainers in the YouTube Kids mobile app. Concerned that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":117947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-117946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-akwasi-osei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/117947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGoogle (GOOG) released the Android and iOS app in February. It has a simplified design with big, kid-friendly buttons and no comments.<\/p>\n