YouTube’s comments section has had a bad reputation in the past, but a change could prevent kids from falling into the comment pit. In an email to parents supervising a child’s account, the company announced the launch of a read-only comments option on their child’s supervised experience on YouTube.
The feature will roll out in the “coming weeks,” YouTube says.
The change is one of the biggest adjustments to YouTube’s parental controls since it introduced increased protections for minors in 2021 due to increased pressure from lawmakers.
Photo credit: Youtube
The new addition applies to two of the three content settings available to parents who want to configure a more kid-friendly YouTube experience for their child: “Discover More” and “Most of YouTube.”
The former allows kids to explore videos with content ratings for viewers ages 13 and up, while Most of YouTube gives older kids access to most YouTube content, except for videos that are specifically age-restricted to adults.
By default, children can read but not write comments in both content setting modes. Live chat will also be disabled.
In the meantime, parents who want to turn off comments completely can switch their child to the Explore setting, which is aimed at viewers ages 9 and up. (This option is generally the first step into the main YouTube experience after using the dedicated YouTube Kids app as a younger child.)
Parents can view and change their child’s settings in Parental Settings on YouTube or through Google’s Family Link parental control app, YouTube Notes. You can also view your child’s history in the My Activity setting on the child’s device.
The company adds that the YouTube settings that parents select for their child will not apply if the child is not using the YouTube website or app directly – for example, if they are watching embedded YouTube content on a third-party website.
Congress has for years pressured tech companies to do more to protect children from the negative impacts of their services, but has been reluctant to codify their demands in new laws. More recently, however, the Kids Online Safety Act has gained traction and requires platform manufacturers to have stricter parental controls. The bill has bipartisan support, as does COPPA 2.0 (Children and Teens’ Online Protection Act), which focuses on improving data protection, privacy and banning targeted advertising to children and teens.
YouTube is getting ahead of any necessary changes to its parental controls platform by incorporating the new protections by default.
After introducing parental controls in 2021, YouTube rolled out a handful of product updates in November 2023 to make YouTube safer for teens. These included limits on repeat viewings of some topics, as well as revised “take a break” and “bedtime” reminders. among other things.
While the email detailed the changes for parents, the company has not yet made a public announcement about read-only comments on its blog. Requests for comment were not returned.