YouTube Kids Should Remove AutoPlay, Says PTC

Written by PTC | Published May 13, 2021

LOS ANGELES (May 13, 2021) – The Parents Television and Media Council (PTC) is urging YouTube to entirely remove the AutoPlay feature on YouTube Kids.

“While AutoPlay increases user traction and revenue for YouTube, it increases children’s usage of, and their risk of becoming more addicted to, screen time. Children’s screen time has already increased over the past year due to quarantine, and children should not be subjected to technology that only fosters more. YouTube Kids was a platform developed specifically for children, and removing the AutoPlay is a commonsense solution to ensure the platform is ideal for the market it serves. YouTube must put children ahead of its bottom line,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“We are encouraged by efforts in the U.S. Congress to ban AutoPlay in kid-targeted media altogether. At the same time, tech companies like YouTube could and should get ahead of legislative efforts and simply work to enact improvements that better serve and more fully protect children.”

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