Yes we absolutely can. YouTube's business model depending on user generated content is their choice. Not being able to review all the content is entirely a problem for Google to solve. Maybe they should stop optimizing for growth and put up some hurdles to who can upload content? That's for them to figure out.

I'd be surprised if there weren't a bunch of kids who really wanted to see content from the latest Minecraft update.

Sure, it will start shifting once they want to watch something their peers watch. But at the time parents choose the media, how would they even know it's not the latest production, or some mix of old/new?

Peppa pig started in 2004. At the time kids are interested in it, if you show them ep 2, will they say "this is not from series 6 from 2019"?

Even with a more restrictive approach Google/YouTube could whitelist specific content providers, which could provide fresh content on a frequent schedule.

I was about to suggest that content creators pay a nominal fee for the content to be reviewed but if creators have no way to monetize the platform, that proposal is bijective with suggesting that Google just shut down YTKids. Or are parents paying already for access to YTKids and the reviews would come out of that?

The argument here is whether imperfect curation is better than none, and the history of television tells us that it is. We never had a TV channel that randomly showed kids pro-suicide messages.

This sentiment is so shocking that I had to say something.

Please no. Let's not encourage a world where people are even less free to share their ideas.

I get where you're coming from, but "Think of the children!" has been used to justify so many evils throughout history. It's an emotional appeal that should be resisted.

Putting up barriers would also be the first step towards losing dominance. But in the short term, it would suck not being able to share a video without waiting a long time or being approved.

But won’t someone think of the poor content creators who might have to wait or upload their content somewhere else!

"Think of the children" is equally bland.

somehow youtube became the parent that oversees what content your kids get. this to me is a dereliction of your parenting requirements.

I think the issue for here is the YT is trying to claim they are providing a YT kids offering, comparable and competing directly with Netflix, Amazon, PBS, etc - if they want to make this claim and have parents allow their children to view it then they need to back it up.

edit: I am sure there are more checks in place and that the above idea has been considered. My main point is that they need to take responsibility for whatever claims they are making. If they can't back up the claims, then that is fine - just stop making them...

Crazy idea - maybe no one should be operating at that volume until they can figure it out?

If you don't want your kids on a product, then supervise them. Don't ban the product for everyone who can use it responsibly.

I'm certainly not one to say everything should be as safe as possible for kids, but there's a limit to what a parent can reasonably be expected to understand. If I set my kid up watching a blues clues clip, and look away for 30 seconds and he's seeing a clown with its arm torn off which autoplayed, I feel like I'm reasonably kinda entitled to go hey wtf google, your shit is broken and its harmed my kid.

And then, of course, not let my kid use youtube anymore.

YouTube throws up videos to children that look good until you get to the second of the video some psychopath has spliced into it. It’s literally not possible to safely put your kid in front of YouTube unless you have pre watched every video YouTube might potentially auto services up to your 3yo

It won't stifle communication on the internet at all. Trust us.

The problem with excessive regulation is that complying with it can be extremely complicated and time consuming. If you don't have the money to pay for that, you either risk being fined or sued, you don't play.

It sets a bar that only already wealthy people can get over.

I hope someday someone will read it.

HN: parents need to stop being helicopter parents and kids need to have independence to grow in order to be functional adults, otherwise you're a shitty parent

Also HN: parents need to know everything their child does and know what they are watching at all times, otherwise you're a shitty parent

If they are honest about there lack of actually effective triage then this whole controversy is of a very different valence.

Stop pretending you’re triaging well if you’re not!

1. it's from a trusted provider, send it on through. Add a complaint mechanism that makes it fairly easy for a trusted provider to be removed from this list (DMCA for content, if you will).

2. it sits in a queue until a human looks at it. Prioritize videos from those who were recently removed from the trusted provider list as a way to dampen the harm from abusive reports.

Suddenly, it's a much smaller problem.

The only way this works is to have a human review every piece of content before it goes live, like every other streaming service with a kids section does.