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YouTube gets safety mode

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 10 Feb 2010 at 15:49

YouTube has introduced a safety mode, designed to help parents keep their children from seeing objectionable content.

The safety mode option is somewhat hidden away in the bottom left-hand corner of YouTube's homepage, and once activated makes a number of changes to the site intended to keep children safe while browsing.

The biggest change is that YouTube will begin filtering out videos with objectionable content, such as a "newsworthy video that contains graphic violence such as a political protest or war coverage".

Safety mode will also completely block searches for keywords that are on its blacklist, including "naked" and "porn".

Alongside the filter, safety mode also hides comments by default and though a simple click will reveal them again, offensive words will be asterisked.

Google admits the controls aren't foolproof, but says the service is a decent first step. "While no filter is 100% perfect, Safety Mode is another step in our ongoing desire to give you greater control over the content you see on the site," the company says on the Google blog.

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User comments

One decision or many?

Stuart: does this thing make decision for you or can you opt in or out of this or that setting?

The idea that scenes such as the "remember Timisoara" moment in the Romanian revolution might be barred from younger viewers, I find quite repellent. Is YouTube actively in the business of ensuring that the next generation thinks the world comprises skateboarding dogs, and that's it?

By Steve_Cassidy on 11 Feb 2010

Hey Steve,

You need to click a button at the bottom of the screen to turn on safety mode. The setting is then remembered on whatever account you logged into.

By StuartTurton on 11 Feb 2010

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