Will children still be allowed YouTube on the family TV with this new social media ban?

[HangingHeather]

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really pleased about this social media ban for under 16s.

But my DS is 7 and AUDHD, we have a YouTube account on the family TV which is in my name. He doesn’t have any access to these things on his own personal device. However we will allow him to watch YouTube on the main family TV because he enjoys watching things that are linked to his hyperfocus/interest at the time. As he cycles through each specific topic.

Will this still be allowed if we let him watch on the main family TV or will it be illegal to do so? It does keep him regulated and we are always present to keep an eye on what he’s accessing.

YouTube being a US company, of course. So like X and Meta keen to obey UK law.

It won't be illegal for them to watch YouTube.

Currently my children have very little YouTube but sometimes we will select videos for them on our account to support something they are learning, their instrument, history etc or to show them a new place we are going. We are in the room when they watch it, usually watching with them. Occasionally I will allow my older daughter (junior school) access to a few videos on a pre-selected channel is she is learning a craft but will be in the room checking nothing else is accessed.

What won't be allowed is for them to have their own accounts and select their own videos or be fed them by the algorithm via auto play. I was not going to allow that before 16 anyway but I'm glad it the law now.

I don't know if YouTube Kids is included but I hope it is. My kids have not been allowed it.

There's a difference between a Disney film and a days worth of unregulated brain rot videos though, isn't there.

The problem with you tube/social media is that anyone can set up a channel/creator account and post whatever they want and it's really hard to police what gets through and what gets seen, and then the algorithms choose new things to recommend to the viewer based on what they've been watching. So they watch one thing with dangerous messaging, they end up with a lot of it.

That doesn't happen when you physically put on a film and then have to physically put on the next thing. You're choosing.

Youtube is just Google. They have a huge presence in the UK as Google UK and obviously abide by UK laws as do any other company based here.

Watching educational videos on a parents account in a shared space is so far away from what many kids do on youtube, which is sit for hours watching short form videos. There is no better way to destroy your attention span. Top it off with reading the horrible nasty comments on youtube videos and you have a mental health crisis waiting to happen.

Starmer plan isn’t without its flaws but I think it’s a great step towards safeguarding children. A lot of comments i’ve seen have sort of missed the point, no they can’t physically stop you if you’re determined that your kid will access social media but it should make parents stop and think - why is there a ban, maybe this is actually harmful for my child. And if all their friends aren’t on TikTok and Instagram yet they’re much less likely to pester you for it themselves.

The current youtube age limit for an account is 13, which as your DD is 13 I presume you ignored (perhaps by entering a fake DOB when you set up her account for her). There is nothing stopping you doing this now the age limit is being bumped up to 16.

I watch YouTube every day, I don’t watch normal telly. It’s documentaries about anything and everything mostly, and tutorials on how to do art stuff. I’m going to be so annoyed putting my ID in to watch how to draw a landscape on an iPad. I have carefully curated my YouTube feed over years, and I’d do the same for kids too. Search for what they like, thumbs up and thumbs down so more or less of the same things appear on your feed.

YouTube kids is reliant on the content creators ticking a box to say it’s child suitable. Some of them are not acting in good faith, there’s some nasty stuff on there, branded to look like kids shows like Peppa Pig.

Main YouTube has beheading videos and other unpleasant stuff. So I think requiring supervised use is a good idea.

In practice, I think the ban will be fine. My 14yo has no social media other than WhatsApp, and I think it makes her find other things to do (she’s a big reader). I’d rather she just had the WhatsApp message bit to stay in touch with school and sport friends on group chats, but you can’t separate it from the channels, which are huge groups that can be very niche, unpleasant and extreme.

My daughter has her own child's profile log on for YouTube which I set up for her through my account, it's for normal YouTube not the Kids version. Assume this will no longer work once the ban is in place?

This!!!

It will be more like film age ratings. Your 13 can't go into a shop and buy a 18 rated film but in your own home no one is going to turn up and stop you from putting it on for them

I think this is what will happen. Effectively the age limit is being bumped up from the current 13 to 16.

My kids use my YouTube for knitting tutorials, gymnastic tutorials, maths puzzles and tricks etc. I don’t agree with the social media ban as I really do not need the government to parent for me. My kids do not have Roblox, Tik Tok, snap chat etc as I don’t allow them to have it. I certainly won’t be allowing bluesky!

The governments job should be making the streets safe, locking up pedos for 20 plus years, and ensuring children have access to cheap, safe after school activities. Then my kids could play out in the street like I used to.

Instead they can’t play out and apparently can’t learn to knit using YouTube either!

If they really cared about children they would lock up men who are found with child sex abuse images on their hard drive.

I believe they really want adults to have to enter ID to access X, Facebook etc.

Bluesky is okay for kids apparently 😂
The box opening on YouTube kids is no doubt okay. Are those loot boxes still allowed?

This is about bringing in restrictions for adults.

And after the grooming scandal I really do not believe Labour give a crap about girls.

Let’s see what the privately funded inquiry uncovers later this month.

Good question! There are so many YouTube families that are watched by and marketed towards kids, tweens and teenagers and I sometimes think they make money from advertising and being sent products. I wonder what they and their ‘sponsors’ will do now they don’t have audience.

I guess there's always a first time.

My dc are both over 18, I have no idea what you’re talking about. What ban?

Off to Google, I go!

Just my tuppence worth, but I believe the ultimate aim of the ban is not to stop kids from watching crochet videos, or short form content on dinosaurs, steam trains, whatever the topic of interest is, but a broad brush to try rein in kids having unfettered access to You Tube during which either the algorithm leads them to the kid of content you don’t ever want your 13 year old watching, or they sit watching clip after clip after clip, while their brain learns that this is “the norm”. There’s a huge difference between a child watching Disney film and mainlining the short form, fast paced content that You Tube specialises in. Use the ban as an additional tool in your armoury but I don’t really think it’s really aimed at those who oversee their child’s use of You Tube thoughtfully & effectively already.

I think the government has got it wrong with YouTube, where you view much more than post content. I support an enforceable ban on platforms like X or Facebook, which are very different.

Or maybe she used my account so I can monitor what she watches. My point here was that youtube can be educational.

There's nothing in the proposed ban to prevent children watching youtube, or using any social media, under a parents account. Just like there is nothing preventing a parent from letting an under-15 watch a 15 classified DVD. The regulation is purely to prevent social media companies from offering accounts to under 16s.

How? It’s streaming.

OP, you’re overthinking it. Just let him watch it, especially if it’s your name there’s definitely no issue.

The government is proposing that social media companies raise the age limit for having an account from 13 to 16. Apparently this is a huge encroachment on free speech or some bollocks.

My other concern is that they’re not seemingly banning Roblox or any other gaming platform. Where kids tend to get groomed quite regularly.

We really have passed through the f*cking looking glass with this ban. All because some parents are too lazy to parent their own children. Digital ID through the back door basically.