By Michaela Gordoni
YouTube recently announced it is testing blurred thumbnails, a feature that will provide “safer search experiences for all users.”
A small number of users are currently testing the feature. While it’s intended to blur mature content, YouTube hasn’t stated what kind of specific things may trigger the feature, such as keywords or themes, The Verge reported April 30.
The content will be blurred, but the channel name, video title and its description will still be visible. There will be an option to unblur the content.
YouTube said its intent is to “understand whether this type of feature helps users avoid accidentally viewing content that follows YouTube’s Community Guidelines but may be sensitive in nature.” However, the feature does not omit results, unlike Google’s SafeSearch.
This feature will be automatic for every account. It does have a Restricted Mode, but that must be turned on manually through users’ settings, Make Use Of reported. There’s also the YouTube Kids app, which restricts harmful content.
It’s important to protect kids from harmful content online. Per Social Media Today, YouTube is the most popular online platform for teens between 13 and 17. About 95% of them frequently log into the app.
YouTube does offer a supervised experience option for those under the age of 13. Parents can set boundaries on what’s available for their child to find and play.
Parents can also turn off the auto-play feature, which automatically plays another video after one video ends. They can do this by turning it off on any played video.
It seems like only good could come out of the new auto-blur feature. There is little reason to keep sensitive content unblurred.
The blurred feature comes amid recent reports of graphic content popping up on playlists.
YouTube turned 20 last week. In the last two decades, there have been approximately 20 billion videos uploaded to the platform. The most watched is Baby Shark, at 16 million views.
“We have this enormous diversity of opinions on our platform,” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said. “We don’t allow adult content. We obviously don’t allow spam and fraud.”
“And we have policies to protect young people and kids on the platform,” he said. “But it’s fundamentally a platform for freedom of speech. ”
Though YouTube says it doesn’t allow “adult content,” that’s not exactly true. It may not allow videos of people graphically engaged in sex, but, unfortunately, there are X-rated music videos and other content available that have significant, pornographic nudity.
This blurred feature could bring a positive change to YouTube. Here’s hoping the company will roll it out on a full scale soon.
Read Next: How YouTube Plans to Makes Strides in Children’s Entertainment
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