New aid launched to help more parents put controls on streaming services

Families value age ratings and content warnings for online content, but many are not using parental controls on streaming services. Photo / 123RF

By RNZ

Families value age ratings and content warnings for online content, but many are not using parental controls on streaming services.

New research from Te Mana Whakaatu, the Classification Office, showed 84 per cent believed age ratings were important when deciding what their children should watch, and most people understood them.

However, a third said they did not use parental controls, such as passwords for certain content or different profiles for children based on their age.

More than half of parents and caregivers with tamariki and rangatahi at home (53 per cent) said they or someone in their household used parental controls for streaming services, and 11 per cent were unsure.

Chief Censor Caroline Flora said there was an opportunity for more people to use these, because they gave peace of mind about what young people were watching.

“We are launching a [new webpage] today to help whānau use these tools,” she said. “They are a great way to support parents to protect their tamariki from watching inappropriate or harmful content.”

Flora said streaming services had been following new requirements to display age ratings this year, and the research showed New Zealanders were noticing them.

This report was the second to be released on the topic. Part one found people were concerned about tamariki and rangatahi seeing harmful content, and thought it was hard to protect tamariki online.

It also showed it was common for people of all ages to see harmful content online.