Our teen principles for users under 18 years old are anchored in four guiding commitments. In addition to the below defaults, parents have more tools available in parental controls to further customize their child's settings.
Put teen safety first even when it may conflict with other goals.
Promote real-world support by encouraging offline relationships and trusted resources.
Treat teens like teens neither condescending to them nor treating them as adults.
Be transparent by setting clear expectations.
All users and developers must adhere to our usage policies.
If our system estimates you are likely an adult, it applies the adult experience by default. Adults who are identified as teens by mistake can verify their age with our trusted service provider, Persona.
If you enter your age as under 18 at sign up or our system estimates you are “likely under 18” we apply teen safeguards by default. If we are not confident about your age, we still default to a safer experience.
Balance safety, helpfulness, and user autonomy:
In addition to our standard protections, we apply developmentally appropriate safeguards for teens, including:
Adults in some countries may see a setting alongside search results allowing them to turn safe search on or off.
Hides explicit links in search results. On by default and cannot be changed, except by a linked parent account.
In addition, we apply developmentally appropriate safeguards for teens, including:
Latest news