YouTube Introduces Parental Controls to Limit Shorts for Kids

YouTube has introduced a new feature allowing parents in Europe to set daily time limits on YouTube Shorts for their teenage children, according to recent announcements from Google. The update, now available across the continent, enables caregivers to manage how long teens spend watching short-form videos through supervised accounts. Parents can activate the controls via the Family Center in the YouTube app, where they can either cap daily viewing time or disable Shorts entirely. Once a teenager reaches their set limit, the app will notify them and block further Shorts playback for the remainder of the day. Google confirmed that the rollout is part of a broader effort to simplify the creation of supervised accounts, which parents can now set up directly within the YouTube platform. The feature marks YouTube as the first major social network to implement time-based restrictions specifically for short-form video content. The move comes amid increasing scrutiny from European regulators and national governments over the impact of addictive design on younger users. Earlier this year, YouTube and Instagram faced a civil lawsuit in the United States, where a jury found both platforms intentionally designed their services to foster habitual leverage. The plaintiff, identified only by initials K.G.M., testified that she developed a dependency on YouTube at age six and on Instagram at age nine. While the new tool does not address broader concerns about algorithmic recommendation systems, it represents a direct response to growing demands for greater parental oversight in digital environments. YouTube emphasized that the functionality is being made available to families across Europe as part of its ongoing commitment to digital wellbeing tools.