YouTube Employees Check Reported Videos Featuring Children’s Series Characters

YouTube staff will check whether reported videos featuring child-recognizable characters are appropriate for children. At the moment, inappropriate or satirical videos often end up in the YouTube Kids app and the video site wants to do something about that.

If the employees find the videos inappropriate for children, YouTube will require users to be signed in and have indicated that they are over 18 years old before they can watch the video, tech site The Verge reports.

First, there is an algorithm that tries to detect such videos. Then, according to YouTube, there is a team of dozens of employees who reviews reported videos. At the same time, the age restriction prevents such videos from appearing in the Kids version of YouTube, which is still happening today.

YouTube says it has had these plans for some time and is not responding to recent articles on the matter. For example, the New York Times reported that YouTube Kids contains videos of children’s recognizable characters such as Minnie Mouse, Paw Patrol or Peppa Pig, in which those characters are run over or undergo torture at the dentist. According to YouTube, there is room for such satire on the site, but according to the site there is a minimum age associated with it. Due to the age restriction, those videos can no longer show ads, making them unattractive to make for the purpose of making money.