YouTube shows popular videos and recommends videos it thinks a user will like. A user can subscribe to a creator’s channel or create their own channel to share their own content. YouTube ‘Shorts’ shows videos up to 1 minute long. A user can pay for ‘YouTube Premium’ to do things like watch a video without adverts.
Users are encouraged to sign in to YouTube using their Google account (minimum age 13). Under 13s may use YouTube if they have a ‘supervised’ Google account. This means the parent can choose from the ‘Explore’, ‘Explore more’ or ‘Most of YouTube’ content settings as appropriate for their child, e.g. limiting livestreams. A parent can set up a supervised Google account on YouTube (YouTube Family Centre) or Google Family Link.
YouTube’s parental controls for under 13s can block videos and control what children can watch or search for. Children who are ‘supervised’ in this way cannot upload their own video content or livestream. Many parents encourage their children to use YouTube Kids as an alternative to YouTube. It is a video streaming app for children up to 12 years old, which gives parents greater oversight and control over how their child uses a video streaming app.
Parental supervision for teens aged 13+ allows parents to email notifications about their child’s activities such as posting a new video or starting a livestream.
In YouTube Family Centre, parents can see which channels their teen owns, how many videos and livestreams their teen has shared on these channels, how many channels they subscribe to and how many comments they’ve posted on other videos.
*Users under the age of 13 will require relevant permissions from parents/guardians
