The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) both expressed concern over the use of advertising within the YouTube Kids app, arguing that children would not be able to distinguish the ads from content.

[19][20] A larger YouTube controversy referred to as "Elsagate" discovered by Matan Uziel and Charlie Warzel has also been associated with the app, referring to channels which post videos featuring characters from popular franchises (especially, among others, Frozen, Paw Patrol, Thomas & Friends, Peppa Pig, and Spider-Man), but with disturbing, sexually suggestive, violent, or otherwise inappropriate themes and content.

[21] YouTube global head of family and children's content Malik Ducard admitted that "making the app family friendly is of the utmost importance to us", but admitted that the service was not curated all the time, and that parents had the responsibility to use the app's parental controls to control how it is used by their children (including disabling access to the search tool).

[22] Josh Golin, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, argued that automated algorithms were not enough to determine whether a video is age-appropriate, and that the process required manual curation.

[24][15] Algeria, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada (excluding Quebec), Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

[25] Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada (excluding Quebec), Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe[26] Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Georgia, Guam, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

[27] Argentina, Aruba (Android TV only), Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh (Android TV only), Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada (excluding Quebec), Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ghana, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro (Apple TV and Smart TVs only), Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.