YouTube Introduces New Parental Controls for Teen Accounts

YouTube is enhancing its parental control features with a new option that allows parents to link their accounts to their teen’s YouTube profile, the company announced on Wednesday. This new feature aims to provide parents with better oversight of their teen’s activity on the platform while maintaining privacy regarding the content.

Parents will now have access to insights such as the number of uploads, subscriptions, and comments made by their teen. However, YouTube has specified that it will not disclose the content of these activities. This means parents will be informed about significant events, including new uploads and livestreams, but without details about the actual content.

The new parental controls are designed to keep algorithmic recommendations on the teen’s profile unaffected. The content shown will continue to be personalized based on the teen’s own activity, ensuring that their viewing experience remains tailored to their preferences.

Despite these enhancements, parents will not be able to modify their child’s age through this feature, as YouTube will use the age entered during account creation. The update will also notify parents of changes in video privacy settings, including private and unlisted videos.

This initiative builds on YouTube’s 2021 efforts to introduce supervised accounts for younger users, with the company now extending these features to older age groups. The move aligns with increasing regulatory pressures and laws, such as those in Utah and Arkansas, which aim to restrict social media use by minors without parental consent.

Other social media platforms, including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, have already implemented similar parental control measures. While YouTube is not traditionally viewed as a social media app, it offers social features like user profiles and comment sections.