YouTube For Schools has been deprecated by Google, and Google now provides alternative methods to enforce safe search and restrict YouTube content: see the Google article Manage your YouTube settings.
The Barracuda Web Security Gateway works with the Google URL parameter rewrite method by appending “safe=strict” to all search string URLs. Because YouTube utilizes the HTTPS protocol, the SSL Inspection feature must be enabled and configured on the Barracuda Web Security Gateway to use this approach. The only other required step is to enable YouTube Safe Search as described in this article.
An alternative method to restrict YouTube content uses DNS redirection, which can be accomplished with an internal DNS server or solutions such as Barracuda NextGen firewalls.
How to Enable YouTube Safe Search
To restrict YouTube content on your network:
- Log into the Barracuda Web Security Gateway web interface as admin.
- Go to the BLOCK/ACCEPT > Content Filter page. On the top right of the page, for Policy, select either Authenticated or Unauthenticated.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Enable for YouTube Safe Search.
- Click Save.
Important
It is important to understand that with YouTube Safe Search enabled, the Barracuda Web Security Gateway does not control the results returned to the user; this is controlled by YouTube. The Barracuda Web Security Gateway ensures that web traffic is directed to the Safe portal on YouTube, which provides limited results.
Figure 1. Blocked YouTube video.
Figure 2. Admin view of restricted video content. Note that the admin can click "Approve" to allow the video.
Controlling Access to Google Consumer Apps
For more information about restricting access to Google consumer apps, and examples, see Google Workspace Control Over HTTPS.
