YouTube clips could get age ratings to protect children

YouTube and other video-sharing websites could carry age ratings to protect children from violent and sexually explicit material, it emerged today.

Ministers want parents and teenagers to be able to give age ratings to videos and other content uploaded by internet users.

The Government has formed a group, led by the British Board of Film Classification, to develop the plans, and is now working with internet service companies and media regulators to test them.

One option proposed is a traffic light system, with a video rated green if it is safe for all, amber if it requires parental guidance and red if it is suitable for adults only.

It comes after David Cameron said last month that he was concerned about his own children’s exposure to inappropriate material on the web.

A senior government source said ministers support the plans, which would help protect children from “potentially damaging material”.

“It is very easy and sometimes convenient to say if you block that, it’s fine. But what about peer-to-peer, self-generated material? Children are self-generating a lot of content,” the source told the Daily Telegraph, adding that ratings would “engage parents more”.