YouTube, It’s Time!

Susan Wojcicki

Chief Executive Officer

YouTube

901 Cherry Avenue

San Bruno, CA 94066

 

March 1, 2019

 

Dear Susan,

Rather than adding to the pile-on of what is surely a mountain of criticism, we are reaching out with what we hope is construed as constructive feedback. As a concerned parent, shareholder, and founder of Heard It From A Friend, my aim to help make YouTube a safer place for kids.

There’s no denying that YouTube is an amazing learning and reference tool, and that our kids are getting introduced to it at a very young age. When kids see their parents replaying funny videos and their teachers routinely assign videos for supplemental learning, it’s nearly impossible to keep kids from wanting to use the platform.

While you have taken active measures to protect children by launching YouTube Kids and adding human moderators, you can give parents increased control over what their children can view on YouTube by:

• Locking the following with a Parental Passcode:
  • Restricted Mode
  • Logging out of account
  • AutoPlay
  • Deleting Search and Watch History
• Creating a toggle option to turn off Recommended Videos with parental passcode
• Offering the ability to view videos without seeing comments
• Create time limits similar to YouTube Kids

With the sheer volume of videos on YouTube, every parent knows that you cannot guarantee the prevention of hackers or sick-minded individuals, but at least the above-mentioned measures would help to give us increased peace of mind.

 

With best wishes,

Julie Paul
Founder and CEO, Heard It From a Friend