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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rachel Hall

Children being ‘sedated’ by algorithmic YouTube content, MPs hear

A boy watching YouTube on a laptop.
The children’s laureate said ‘frictionless’ YouTube programming fails to offer the ‘stimulation and nourishment’ of quality children’s TV previous generations enjoyed. Photograph: True Images/Alamy

Lots of children’s programming made for YouTube is “not entertainment, it’s sedation”, the UK children’s laureate has warned.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce said “frictionless” programming in which children are “bombarded with information”, such as CoCoMelon, a YouTube Kids channel with 180 million subscribers, failed to offer the “stimulation and nourishment” that previous generations had enjoyed.

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