Safer Internet for the youth over the holidays

At Google and YouTube, protecting kids and teens online isn’t just a priority, it’s a responsibility we take to heart. From embedding safeguards into our products, to developing tools that help families make informed digital choices, we are committed to protecting, respecting, and supporting young people as they grow up in the digital age.

Putting Parents in Control with Family Link

Parents and young people alike look to companies like ours to create safe, educational and enriching spaces online. Core to achieving this goal is age assurance: a term for the variety of methods used to determine or estimate the age of a person visiting a site or app.

We also empower parents with supervision tools such as Family Link, a parental control app that respects families' individual technology choices and helps them cultivate healthy digital habits. With easy-to-use tools, parents can understand their children's device usage, share locations, manage privacy settings, and find the right balance for their family.

Introducing School Time

Earlier this year, we also announced a new Family Link setting for Android phones and other devices: School Time.

School Time empowers parents to configure their child's device with a dedicated home screen and limited functionality during school hours, minimizing distractions in the classroom.

Evolving Supervision for Teens

In addition, as children transition into adolescence, parental supervision needs may change to reflect their growing understanding and technology use. We recognize that desired settings vary by age, developmental stage, and parenting style. Therefore, we continue to offer tailored settings and experiences:

• New supervision features for parents of teens are coming to YouTube. Parents and teens will be able to link their accounts, providing parents with insights into their teens' YouTube activity.
• For all users under 18, we have default safety settings in place, including SafeSearch, content restrictions, and autoplay disabled on YouTube.

Investing in AI Skills for African Youth

Furthermore, we aim to unlock the benefits of the digital economy for African youth by offering AI skilling training courses across the continent. In October 2024, Google.org announced a commitment to support AI skills development and education in the region. As part of this program, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is collaborating with Young Scientists Kenya, TechKidz Africa, and other stakeholders to implement AI literacy education through ExperienceAI.

ExperienceAI is an educational program providing cutting-edge resources on artificial intelligence and machine learning for teachers and students. Developed in partnership by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Google DeepMind, it supports teachers in the rapidly evolving field of AI and inspires young people about the subject. The course introduces AI through lesson plans, presentations, simulations, worksheets, and hands-on projects.

From Family Link to our AI skilling initiatives, we are dedicated to providing the tools and programs that enable young Africans to access the internet safely and creatively. We are excited to continue this work, helping to build a safer and more innovative digital future for everyone.