www.broadcastprome.com: YouTube has launched supervised kid accounts across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including the United Arab Emirates, introducing a new age-appropriate experience designed to help children explore the platform with enhanced safety, privacy and wellbeing features.

The optional accounts, which are integrated into the main YouTube app, give parents greater control over their children’s viewing experience through built-in parental controls and customisable content settings. Families can choose to use the supervised experience or switch to full YouTube access at any time.

Parents can select from three content settings tailored to different age groups and maturity levels. The “Explore” setting offers educational videos, tutorials, arts and crafts, and dance content. “Explore More” expands access to include gaming and live streams, while “Most of YouTube” allows access to nearly all content on the platform, excluding videos rated 18+ or otherwise deemed unsuitable for supervised accounts.

The new accounts also introduce an industry-first Shorts feed timer, enabling parents to set daily limits for YouTube Shorts viewing or disable short-form scrolling entirely by setting the timer to zero. Additional built-in features include “Take a Break” and “Bedtime” reminders, which are enabled by default for users under 18 to encourage healthier viewing habits.

Several standard YouTube features are restricted on supervised kid accounts, including the ability to upload videos or post comments. Personalised advertising is disabled, and autoplay is turned off by default to provide a safer viewing environment.

The supervised kid accounts complement YouTube’s existing supervised teen accounts, which are already available across the region. Teen accounts allow young users to access most of YouTube while offering parents tools such as account linking, notifications when their teenager uploads a video or starts a live stream, and insights into channel activity.

Speaking about the announcement, Javid Aslanov, Head of YouTube Middle East & North Africa, said: “YouTube has been a huge part of families’ lives across this region for over 20 years – whether to help with homework or as a shared viewing experience on the family TV – which is why we’re continuously investing in tools that serve families and put their wellness first. Research by Kantar shows that 95% of viewers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE agree that YouTube has top content in education and learning, while 92% of Gen Z viewers say it has helped them learn new skills.”

Garth Graham, Head of Health at YouTube, added: “It’s essential that we protect young people in – not from – the digital world. Thoughtful safeguards like kid and teen accounts help us continue to give young people a place to learn and explore, while ensuring the right tools and boundaries are in place to keep them safe and give families a choice.”

The latest launch builds on YouTube’s long-term commitment to family safety, which includes the standalone YouTube Kids app featuring curated age-appropriate content and Google Family Link, which enables parents to manage screen time, filter content, monitor app usage and track the location of a child’s Android device.

Supervised kid accounts are now available in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Iraq, with a phased rollout beginning July 2 for additional families across the MENA region and Türkiye. Parents can set up the accounts through the Family Center in the YouTube app or website, or via the Google Family Link app.