YouTube Kids filtering is garbage

Jan 61 min read

Has anyone else noticed that YouTube Kids recommendations have gotten WEIRD? My 5yo was watching some perfectly innocent toy unboxing video and then it recommended some creepy 3D animation that was definitely not kid-appropriate. I've now blocked about half the channels we used to watch.

I switched to Common Sense Media's app recommendations and honestly it's so much better curated. Yeah it's fewer choices but at least I'm not constantly monitoring what pops up next. Anyone else having this issue with YT Kids?

5 comments136 views

Comments(5)

JJasonNew DadJan 6

YES. My 4yo somehow got recommended a video about spider eggs hatching and I didn't find out until he was asking nightmare questions at bedtime. The algorithm has zero chill.

BBrandonNew DadJan 6

Can you share what kind of weird stuff came up? My kids are about the same age and I want to know what to watch out for.

MMarcoNew DadJan 7

The 5yo recommendations in particular seem broken. It jumps between actual kids content and stuff that's clearly made to trick the algorithm.

KKevin T.New DadJan 7

We switched to Common Sense Media's curated stuff and it's night and day. YouTube Kids is basically just a search engine pretending to be safe.

MMark T.New DadJan 9

The filtering is honestly worse than just regular YouTube at this point. I've started just making playlists manually because I don't trust the suggestions anymore.