Is Kiddle really a child-friendly Google?
It’s one of the biggest worries for parents the world over – how to protect your little ones from the big, bad internet.
And yet, it’s also vital that your children learn to use technology. After all, it’s a tech-centred world that they’ll struggle to navigate if they’re not used to using it.
So understandably, we got pretty excited when we heard that Google had just launched a kid-friendly version in the form of Kiddle.co.
Reports described the tool as being just like a regular search engine, only heavily filtered: the first 1-3 posts to show up on a search will feature safe sites, while the next 4-7 will be written in a simple language.
However, it turns out those reports were a bit off.
The website is not an official Google spin-off for young internet users. In fact, it has no association with Google at all. It just uses a Google Custom Search bar embedded within the website in a bid to filter out adult material.
Certain content is filtered and some explicit terms, and celebrities including Pamela Anderson are blocked.
But in some cases, it doesn’t do too good a job at all. For instance, a quick Kiddle of Khloe Kardashian throws up some pretty risqué content which most parents wouldn’t want their children reading about.
Hmm. Looks like we’re back to square one, mums…