How to Block Videos on YouTube: A Comprehensive Guide

Discover effective methods to block YouTube videos with this comprehensive guide. Learn how to utilize YouTube’s built-in features, customize preferences, and leverage third-party tools for a safe and personalized viewing experience.

In this digital age and world, YouTube has become a significant and dominant force in online video sharing, live streaming, and vlogging communities which provides a vast library of content throughout the countries and continents covering various topics.

However, we know that with such a massive collection of videos covering almost every topic globally, it’s essential to have control over the content users encounter on the video giant’s platform.

Whether you want to protect yourself or underage children from explicit or inappropriate videos that may contain profanity or racial slurs, filtering out the sensitive material and eliminating undesired recommendations is understandable.

We also provide valuable resources for setting up parental controls on iPhone, Safari browser, and various platforms. Learn how to enable parental controls on YouTube to ensure safe content for children, implement restrictions on Chromebook, and enable parental controls on PlayStation for a secure gaming experience.

You should be able to block videos on YouTube quickly to maintain a safe and personalized viewing experience for your family members or kids.

In the article below, we will discuss and instruct you with a step-by-step guide on effectively blocking videos on YouTube.

1. Understand the Need to Block Videos

YouTube is the biggest video platform on the internet and hosts a wide range of content. 

While most of the content uploaded on the youtube platform, which shows in your recommendations, is valuable and entertaining, sometimes out of the blue, there are instances where you may want to exert your control over what you see in your youtube account recommendations. 

We may not know all the reasons why people want to block videos on youtube, but we know some of the most common reasons to block videos, including the following:

• Parents want to prevent their children from exposure to explicit or inappropriate content, which is the general public’s and parents’ primary concern.
• You are shielding yourself, a family member, or a friend from sensitive material that may trigger discomfort or distress, another solid reason for blocking horror or violent videos.
• You are tailoring your YouTube experience by eliminating videos that do not aligning with your interests or values. We always do this, and it does work because Google algorithms learn from your actions on youtube videos and recommend videos according to your engagement.
• Avoiding recommendations that may not be relevant or helpful.

2. Blocking Videos on YouTube: 

A. Restricted Mode

Restricted Mode is a robust and valuable tool provided by YouTube to its users that filters out and removes potentially mature content from search results, playlists, and recommendations. 

I always use Youtube restricted mode while using my business laptop because it saves me from distractions and embarrassment, says Parvinder Singh, our software head. He recommends parents to use this youtube feature on their children’s accounts. 

You can easily Enable Restricted Mode on Youtube:

• On Desktop: Click on your account picture on the top right corner of your screen. Scroll to the bottom, click the “Restricted Mode” option, and toggle the switch to “On.”
  
  
• On Mobile (iPhone & Android): Click on your account picture on the top right corner of your mobile screen. Scroll down, tap on settings, tap “General,” and enable Restricted Mode.
  
  

Youtube says that Restricted Mode on youtube helps hide potentially mature videos. This may only work for the current browser where you have enabled the Mode. If you have changed or opened another browser, you may have to turn on Restricted Mode again.

B. Download and Set up YouTube Kids

 If you, as a parent, are concerned about your children accessing or stumbling upon inappropriate content inadvertently, then we recommend YouTube Kids as an excellent solution. 

You can go to the App Store on your iPhone or Android and download the YouTube Kids app, which is free of cost. 

Most of our team members here at Parentaldaily use the Youtube Kids app, which is specifically designed for children and makes it easy for Parents and guardians to guide kids as they discover new and exciting things and topics along the way.

YouTube Kids offers a child-friendly version of YouTube with curated content suitable for young audiences. 

To set up and use YouTube Kids, follow the below steps:

• Download the YouTube Kids app from your device’s app store.
• Follow the instructions to set up a profile for your child, customize content preferences, and apply parental controls as needed.

C. Reporting Inappropriate Content

 YouTube encourages its users to report videos that violate their community guidelines, and it should be your priority to enforce the policy so that inappropriate content does not reach a kid. We consistently report videos that are violent in nature or use racial slurs or are not problematic for the youtube community. 

 If you come across a video that is explicit, offensive or violates YouTube’s policies, you can report it by following these steps:

• Click on the “More” button (denoted by three vertical dots) below the video and in front of the video title.
• A new infor menu will open; Select “Report” and choose the reason that best describes the violation.
• You can also provide any additional details and submit the report.

Also, Google does not recommend videos related to that topic, category, or channel in the future. 

3. Customizing YouTube Recommendations:

Clearing Watch History and Search History: YouTube’s recommendations are influenced by your watch history and search history. By clearing these histories, you can improve the accuracy of your recommendations. Here’s how to do it:

• On Desktop: Click on the “History” option in the left sidebar, then click on “Clear All Watch History” and “Clear Search History.” Click on “Manage history” to save or auto youtube history according to your personal preference.
  
  
  
• On Mobile: On the top right corner of your iPhone or Android screen, Tap on your profile picture, go to “Settings,” choose “Manage History,” and tap on “Delete.” You can choose between deleting today, deleting all-time history, or custom deleting searches from the youtube account.

Youtube offers features where you can turn off saving search and watch history, or you can also turn on the automatic deletion of youtube history older than three months, 18 months, or three years. 

4 Adjusting YouTube Preferences

 YouTube allows you to customize your preferences, influencing your recommended videos. Follow these steps to modify your preferences:

• On Desktop: Click on your profile picture, go to “Settings,” select “Playback and performance,” and adjust the language, location, and content types according to your preferences.
• On Mobile: Tap on your profile picture, go to “Settings,” choose “General,” and modify the language, location, and content types as desired.

5. Third-Party Tools and Extensions to block Youtube videos

 We can recommend these browser for kids and parental control apps to parents that can enhance and ensure more control over YouTube content, allowing you to block videos, filter content, and implement parental controls with ease and more flexibility regarding blocking explicit content. 

Here are a few popular extensions you can consider:

• Qustodio: Qustodio parental control helps you monitor children and apps.
• Bark App: Bark monitors texts, emails, YouTube videos, and 30+ apps for cyberbullying, adult content, sexual predators, profanity, and more.
• YouTube Kids app (As explained above): is a child-friendly app offering curated content suitable for young audiences. It provides a safe and age-appropriate environment, allowing children to explore videos and channels that are educational and entertaining.

6. Blocking Channels and Users

 In addition to blocking specific videos, users can also block specific channels or users to prevent Google from recommending their content appearing in search results or getting profile recommendations. 

Follow the below instructed steps to block channels and users on YouTube:

• Go to the channel or user profile page.
• Click on the “About” tab.
• Click on the flag icon and select “Block user” or “Block channel.”

7. Conclusion

We know that for parents and caretakers, blocking videos on YouTube is essential for maintaining a safe and personalized viewing experience so that they don’t have to worry about their kids each time they search or watch videos or shows on youtube. 

In the above comprehensive guide, we have explored various methods to help you exercise better control over the content you encounter on YouTube. 

By utilizing YouTube’s built-in features like Restricted Mode and reporting inappropriate content, customizing your preferences, and leveraging third-party tools and extensions, you can block videos that do not align with your preferences or values. 

Please follow the above steps and easily block inappropriate and explicit videos or accounts from your youtube account and app.