Security Advice for Parents and Children About Content Filtering and Circumvention as Found on YouTube and TikTok

TL;DR

The paper investigates how YouTube and TikTok disseminate security-advice about content filtering and circumvention within parent–child contexts. By analyzing 839 videos and coding 399 relevant ones, the study reveals that about three-quarters provide accurate, comprehensive, and actionable guidance, with children-targeted content being more actionable but less accurate and lacking ethics discussion. It demonstrates that video platforms are already influential sources of security-advice and suggests increasing researcher-generated content and tooling to improve content relevancy and reliability. The findings highlight platform-specific differences—YouTube generally yields higher accuracy, while TikTok offers broader, faster exposure—and emphasize the need for careful content curation to protect children while educating them about risks. Overall, the work informs practitioners and researchers about opportunities to enhance security education on social media and to develop better filtering-assisted tools for families.

Abstract

In today's digital age, concerns about online security and privacy have become paramount. However, addressing these issues can be difficult, especially within the context of family relationships, wherein parents and children may have conflicting interests. In this environment, parents and children may turn to online security advice to determine how to proceed. In this paper, we examine the advice available to parents and children regarding content filtering and circumvention as found on YouTube and TikTok. In an analysis of 839 videos returned from queries on these topics, we found that half (n=399) provide relevant advice. Our results show that of these videos, roughly three-quarters are accurate, with the remaining one-fourth containing factually incorrect advice. We find that videos targeting children are both more likely to be incorrect and actionable than videos targeting parents, leaving children at increased risk of taking harmful action. Moreover, we find that while advice videos targeting parents will occasionally discuss the ethics of content filtering and device monitoring (including recommendations to respect children's autonomy) no such discussion of the ethics or risks of circumventing content filtering is given to children, leaving them unaware of any risks that may be involved with doing so. Ultimately, our research indicates that video-based social media sites are already effective sources of security advice propagation and that the public would benefit from security researchers and practitioners engaging more with these platforms, both for the creation of content and of tools designed to help with more effective filtering.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Video topics by platform
• Figure 2: Video topics by audience
• Figure 3: Video quality ratings by platform and audience
• Figure 4: Devices mentioned by platform
• Figure 5: Devices mentioned by audience