YouTube has delayed the planned launch of its specialty children’s TV app in Australia and NZ by two months with questions now being raised about the content being delivered via the app.
Two consumer groups, the Center for Digital Democracy and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, are alleging that the app includes a number of videos that are inappropriate for children, including ones that reference sex, alcohol and drug use, child abuse, pedophilia and more.
The organizations compiled a video detailing their findings using videos it pulled from the YouTube Kids application.
According to their review, the app allowed children the ability to view videos that included sexual language, unsafe behaviors like playing with matches or juggling knives, profanity (e.g. in a parody of the film “Casino” featuring Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street), adult discussions about family violence, pornography, and child abuse, jokes about drug use and pedophilia, and alcohol ads.
Google Australia has not said why their app has been delayed in Australia.
“Google is deceiving parents by marketing YouTube Kids as a safe place for children under five to explore when, in reality, the app is rife with videos that would not meet anyone’s definition of ‘family friendly,'” the groups said in a statement released recently.
