If you have young kids, chances are they’re obsessed with YouTube. With millions of videos to choose from, the platform gives them a whole world of cute cartoons and upbeat songs right at their fingertips. So it’s tempting to enjoy some alone time while they surf a seemingly endless roster of videos, many of which seem harmless enough?at least on the surface. But to assume that uploads aimed at youngsters are properly assessed for inappropriate content would be a mistake.
The company’s notoriously shoddy vetting process and unreliable recommendation algorithm has put seemingly innocent but deeply disturbing content into the hands of children all over the world. The unintended result is that cartoons containing violence and racism are only a few mistaken clicks away. Unfortunately, many re-learned this last month courtesy of the company’s latest gatekeeping failure, a cartoon called “Dina and the Prince.” It served as a reminder that YouTube can’t be trusted to keep your kids safe and parents need to step in to carefully screen content for their children.
A racist curse
YouTube came under fire once again on July 23, when the children?s channel My Pingu TV and it’s fairytale video, “Dina and the Prince,” caused an internet uproar. In the story, a white cartoon angel “loses her beauty” and turns black. When the magic takes effect, a now “ugly” Dina has been transformed from a white, straight-ha...