YouTube Rolls Out Optional Safe-Content Filter

YouTube isn't exactly new, it's been the largest video site for years, so it's a bit surprising that it's releasing a 'safe video' tool of sorts only now. Dubbed Safety Mode, it does what you'd expect, it filters out videos which may be too graphic or contain objectionable content which you may not want to see or have your family members exposed too.

"[W]e're announcing Safety Mode, an opt-in setting that helps screen out potentially objectionable content that you may prefer not to see or don't want others in your family to stumble across while enjoying YouTube. An example of this type of content might be a newsworthy video that contains graphic violence such as a political protest or war coverage. While no filter is 100% perfect, Safety Mode is another step in our ongoing desire to give you greater control over the content you see on the site," Jamie Davidson, associate product manager at YouTube wrote.

The feature is rolling out today so if you're not seeing it yet, it should be coming soon. When it does go live, you should be seeing a "Safety Mode" link at the very bottom of the page below the location and language selectors. All you need to do to enable it is click on the link and select "On" from the radio buttons. If you're logged into your Google account, you can even lock the feature so it can only be changed by someone who knows your password.

Google doesn't guarantee 100 percent accuracy for the feature, it says it does its best and gathers info from several sources to determine whether a video is appropriate or not. Google has had a similar tool for its search engine for years now, though determining whether a text is safe or not is significantly easier than doing it for video.