3 things parents need to know about Kiddle
There’s a new search engine on the horizon designed specifically for web savvy kids searching the net. Here are three things parents should know about Kiddle.co.
Child proofing the internet is becoming harder and harder for parents. Yes, while Google safe search and other filters seem to work in curbing most of the unwanted results, there is still not a fool proof system that works.
Kiddle.co website is the newest search engine that launched to cater for kids surfing the net and uses a Google custom search bar embedded within the website in a bid to filter out adult material. This is supposed to make surfing the net a lot safer for kids and give parents a peace of mind. Here are three vital things parents need to know about Kiddle.co.
1. Kiddle.co works a lot like Google safe search
The Kiddle.co looks very similar to Google but the site embeds the Google custom search bar and wipes out adult content search results. This presents a far more toned down Google search so to speak. It’s similar to having the safe search settings on while searching Google. Users can still have safe search switched on in their google settings while using Kiddle.co.
2. Kiddle.co is not a Google product
While it may seem like a natural assumption to make because of the association, Kiddle.co is not in fact a Google product and has no affiliation with Google other than the fact that it uses the Google search engine as part of its website. The site blocks and bans “bad” words like bisexual and transgender and gives you an error message when any of the banned words are searched.
3. Certain content on Kiddle.co is filtered but not all
A number of adult content searches, explicit terms, and celebrities (like Pamela Anderson) are filtered on Kiddle.co but not everything adult related is filtered. When parents in the UK searched for celebrities like Khloe Kardashian and Vanessa Hudgens, adult content including references to naked images came up on their searches. This refutes the idea that Kiddle.co is foolproof.
A number of Twitter users also tried searching for terms like “rabbit” and some of the content that came up was not so child friendly.
Just heard of a "search engine for kids" called Kiddle. I was disappointed on my very first search. Yikes! pic.twitter.com/1KKlXPbbqy
— Nate Smith (@nthdesign) February 28, 2016
