YouTube Launches New Parental Controls For Teens

YouTube has announced today a new feature designed to enhance parental oversight and provide teens with additional support for responsible content creation.

The new feature allows parents and teens to link their accounts, providing shared insights into the teen’s channel activity, including uploads, subscriptions, and comments.

Rolling out globally this week, the first iteration of this update builds on YouTube’s existing supervised features for pre-teens. Through the new Family Center hub, parents can monitor their teen’s activity on YouTube, receiving email notifications for key events such as video uploads or livestreams.

Additionally, YouTube states that parents will have access to resources developed with Common Sense Networks, an affiliate of Common Sense Media, to assist them in guiding teens on responsible content creation.

The company stated that it collaborated with its Youth and Families Advisory Committee to develop the new controls.

They added that YouTube’s youth-focused products, including YouTube Kids and supervised experiences for pre-teens, reach over 100 million active viewers monthly.

YouTube informed TechCrunch that linking accounts will not impact the platform’s algorithm or alter the content shown to teens, as recommendations are already personalized.

Additionally, parents cannot update their child’s real age through account linking, as YouTube relies on the age the teen provided when they first signed up.

Parents will still receive alerts for new uploads on YouTube and YouTube Shorts, including private or unlisted videos, and they’ll be notified whenever video privacy settings are changed, as reported by TechCrunch.

Ellen Selkie, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, praised YouTube’s approach, stating in the announcement, “It’s so important for teens to have space to make their own choices, express themselves, and explore their identity and values. It’s also important to have the wisdom of trusted adults in their lives if they need them.”

“That’s why when I talk with teens and their parents about online activities, I encourage the idea of ‘trust, but verify.’ YouTube’s supervised experience for teens holds these developmental principles by having teens and their parents share decisions about supervision with continued open, two-way communication,” Selkie concluded.