I had heard about this before, but back then I didn’t have kids, so I didn’t pay much attention. Now that I do, I truly understand — I have to admit, YouTube Kids is far too harmful for children. What YouTube promotes as a fun and safe learning space designed for kids through online videos… is actually not safe at all.

If you’re a new parent and still trust YouTube Kids like I once did, please take this as a warning: “Don’t be fooled — it’s not what it claims to be.”
And to those who realized this long ago, let’s sit down together and share better tools and apps that are truly beneficial for our children.

Just sharing a bit
Honestly, I used to think I’d never let my child get exposed to phones, tablets, or TVs too early. But in today’s modern life, that turns out to be incredibly difficult — for me and for many parents like me.

That said, early exposure to technology isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For example, my child has learned many English songs and picked up lots of new things through videos. I believe as long as we manage screen time properly and don’t rely on it excessively, it’s okay.

My child isn’t addicted either — if there’s someone to play with or toys around, they’ll happily play. It’s not like they cling to the iPad all the time.

I came across a pretty interesting video on this topic that you might want to check out — though it was posted about a year ago.
Bonus: there’s also a podcast version generated by AI in Vietnamese, for those who prefer a quick and clear audio summary in our language.

I used to trust the kids app, thinking that the recommended videos were all curated and safe for children. But I was wrong. One day, I decided to actually look at the suggested content lined up underneath — the ones my child would usually click on next out of habit. Some of those videos were honestly disturbing: creepy, toxic, violent, and completely misleading in terms of education.

I still remember the whole Skibidi Toilet phase — absolutely disgusting. And even now, without Skibidi, there’s a flood of similar videos out there. They’re labeled as kids’ content and even recommended to children based on age settings.

I did some digging and learned about a phenomenon called Elsagate — where inappropriate or disturbing content is disguised as child-friendly, often using well-known cartoon characters but featuring violent, bizarre, or deeply unsettling themes. These videos slip past moderation systems and still manage to lure kids into watching. You’ll see superheroes doing nonsensical things, or princesses looking downright scary… and this is happening not only overseas but also right here in Vietnam.

I’ve created and reset new accounts multiple times — manually watching lots of good videos in advance, blocking disturbing channels I came across, and even disabling search, hoping the recommendation algorithm would stick to what I had selected. But no! After a while, the same harmful content reappears. After all, it’s just an automated filter, and toxic channels always find ways to bypass the rules.

YouTube itself even admits: “We don’t manually review every video, so some may slip through. If you see anything, feel free to block or flag it!”
Honestly, while regular YouTube is generally more dangerous overall, I’ve found that its recommendation algorithm lately feels slightly less chaotic than that of YouTube Kids. YouTube Kids pushes videos based on age group — so it floods you with anything labeled as “kid-friendly.” Meanwhile, regular YouTube tends to recommend based on similar content you’ve just watched.

But of course, regular YouTube lacks proper parental tools and safety controls, so I still don’t consider it a trustworthy platform either.

Right now, I’ve chosen to pre-download a set of curated videos for my child to watch within that limited selection.
If anyone knows of better platforms, video channels, or practical methods, let’s share them with each other!