Google Lets Pakistani Parents Block YouTube Shorts Completely

YouTube has expanded the parental control feature that lets parents in Pakistan set a daily limit for their children to watch Shorts, including the option to reduce the limit to zero.

The rollout is part of Google’s Digital Guardian online safety initiative, which is focused on helping Pakistani families manage their children’s digital habits. Setting the limit to zero effectively blocks Shorts from appearing, without touching the rest of YouTube.

To use it, a child’s account needs to be set up under supervision via Google Family Link. Once that’s done, parents can go to the Family Center within the YouTube app, select their child’s profile, and adjust the daily Shorts limit from there.

The company calls it the first feature of its kind in the industry, giving parents this level of control specifically over Shorts content. Regular YouTube browsing, subscriptions, and other content are not affected, only the short-form scrolling feed is turned off.

YouTube first introduced the ability to limit the time a child can watch shorts in January, with the option to set the limit to zero soon after. This update brings the same zero-minute control to parents managing accounts in Pakistan, specifically.

Along with the shorts limit, YouTube has also introduced customizable bedtime and Take a Break reminders for supervised accounts, as well as an easy way to switch between different child profiles on a shared device.

There are some limitations to be aware of, though. A supervised teen can turn off supervision on their account at any time, and when that happens, parents only get a notification, there’s no way to force it back on.

Parents looking to set this up will need to have Family Link installed and their child’s account already connected to supervision, as none of these controls work on a standard, unsupervised YouTube account.