While British Prime Minister David Cameron’s broadband filters are doing an admirable job of shielding Britain’s young eyes from adult content, the government reckons it can do more. That’s why, as from October, it’ll treat music videos like movies and begin placing age ratings on them.
The Prime Minister announced the new program during a speech recently, noting that the government will work with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to “protect children from some of the graphic content in music videos” hosted on websites like YouTube and Vevo.
The pilot, which will run for three months with assistance from Google, has also been backed by the three biggest music labels in the UK – Sony, Warner Music and Universal – letting them assign three age-suitable labels (12, 15 or 18) to videos with adult-themed content. It’s not yet known how it will be enforced, but parents will be provided with an option to block videos according to their ratings.
But, there is a catch here; the ratings will only apply to British-made music. That means they probably won’t limit controversial American music videos like Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” or Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”. Now, that’s another story all together.
