Youtube DNS restrictions not working?

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  • itdirector
    January 15, 2020 at 7:50 am

    Hello, we implemented Youtube restrictions using your DNS service. It was working fine until a few weeks ago. Now students can access far more videos than before, many of which would be considered inappropriate.

    When I go to youtube.com/check_content_restrictions, it indicates that the DNS restrictions are set to moderate. This is not something we can control on our end. Have you changed the DNS restriction levels recently?

    Daniel Cid
    January 16, 2020 at 7:21 am

    Not at all. We leverage Youtube’s DNS API to enforce the moderate or strict modes.

    If they changed the type of videos blocked on the moderate level, there is little we can do. Can you share a few examples? Would love to understand more what happened.

    *you may try the strict mode to see if it works better for you.

    itdirector
    January 16, 2020 at 9:22 am

    Thanks, but we are using DNS filtering, as you know. How can we alter the level of content filtering that is taking place on our network? I thought your DNS filtered at a strict level, and that was the only option. Or am I mistaken? We are using <b>185.228.168.168</b>. The DNS filter is enabled, as it shows Youtube set to restricted mode, and we cannot change this.

    According to this Google answer, the level of restriction would need to be set by the individual or company who actually owns the DNS server, which would be you. Or am I misunderstanding something here?

    1. Open your network’s DNS settings.
    2. Add a CNAME for the following hostnames:

      To set strict restricted access, set the CNAME value to restrict.youtube.com.

      To set moderate restricted access, set the CNAME value to restrictmoderate.youtube.com.

    itdirector
    January 16, 2020 at 9:30 am

    Hello, I may have answered my own question… it appears that Cleanbrowsing is set to filter at a moderate level.

    <i>If you are using <b>CleanBrowsing</b>, we enforce YouTube’s Restrict-Moderate mode automatically on our Family Filter and you do not have to take any of these steps.</i>

    Is there a way to use Cleanbrowsing to filter at a strict level instead?

    Note that Google Search, Image search, Bing, etc… are all filtering well. It’s just Youtube that we want to be able to set to a more strict level.

    Thanks

    Daniel Cid
    January 16, 2020 at 5:40 pm

    Yes, correct, set the Moderate level on our free Family Filter.

    If you are up to try one of our paid plans, it allows you to customize the level of filtering you need on Youtube (Strict, Moderate, Fully Blocked or Allowed).

    thanks!

    itdirector
    January 18, 2020 at 10:02 am

    Okay thank you.