Google in partnership with Unicef have unveiled an online portal to help parents protect their children from inappropriate content.
The site named Online Family Safety Center, gives tidbits of information on how to protect your child from online. The site will be a South African version of the Google family safety site.
Research shows that children up to the age of 12 have access to the Internet and hence are in the danger of running into inappropriate content or become cyber bullied.
The site gives parents tools to protect their children from explicit material. One such tool is Google SafeSearch. This tool acts as a filter to eliminate content deemed inappropriate to children.
The safety mode can be installed in your phone and also on other sites such as YouTube. Google also offers tools to report abusive or explicit content on all its platforms including Google+, YouTube and Blogger.
Google warns though that, “While no filter is 100% accurate, SafeSearch helps you to avoid content that you may prefer not to see or would rather your children did not stumble across.”
Mobiflock, a South African app that helps put privacy and controls on smartphones, is also helping to curb inappropriate content for children.
“The benefits the phones give our children are huge. But, no matter how tech-savvy kids appear, they are still children and need both guidance and protection from their parents and guardians,” said Patrick Lawson, Mobiflock founder.
