Google to launch child-friendly search engine, YouTube and Chrome to make web 'fun and safe' | Huffing Post International

Friday 12 December 2014

Google to launch child-friendly search engine, YouTube and Chrome to make web 'fun and safe'


Google to launch child-friendly search engine, YouTube and Chrome to make web 'fun and safe'

Google is developing child-friendly versions of its flagship products - including its search engine, YouTube and Chrome - aimed at under-13s

Getty Child at a computer
Google is planning child-friendly versions of its products

Google is working on child-friendly versions of its search site, video platform YouTube and its Chrome browser.
The plans were revealed by the Google engineer heading up the project - Pavni Diwanji - in an interview with USA Today.
The modified versions of the Google services would be designed for children up to the age of 12.
So searching for something like "trains" would show results for Thomas the Tank Engine instead of train timetables and booking sites.
"The big motivator inside the company is everyone is having kids, so there’s a push to change our products to be fun and safe for children," she told USA Today.
"We expect this to be controversial," she added, "but the simple truth is kids already have the technology in schools and at home. So the better approach is to simply see to it that the tech is used in a better way."
Other possibilities include allowing parents control over their child’s interactions with technologies, for example limiting the use of these products to specific times.
At the moment the details are pretty limited. So we don't know is how that might affect the ability to see things like raunchy music videos from artists such as Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus.
Google already has a number of child-friendly tools, including SafeSearch, which removes adult content from search results.
The company has not revealed when it would launch these new child-centric products.

Do we need child-friendly versions of Google products?



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