Online music videos on YouTube and Vevo to carry age classifications from October
Online music videos will carry age classifications from October, as part of a scheme which aims to protect children from “graphic content”.
The scheme by YouTube, Vevo and the British Board of Classification was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech to the Relationships Alliance today, 18 August.
He said: “We've taken a big stand on protecting our children online. We're making family friendly filters the default setting for all new online customers, and we're forcing existing customers to make an active choice about whether to install them.
"And today we're going even further. From October, we're going to help parents protect their children from some of the graphic content in online music videos by working with the British Board of Film Classification, Vevo and YouTube to pilot the age rating of these videos."
Cameron added that the online world should be the same as offline: “So if you want to go and buy a music video offline there are age restrictions on it. We should try and recreate that system on the internet."
Robin Thicke's video Blurred Lines received complaints that it was both graphic and sexist.