Articles on: Technical documentation

Why is Safe Surfer not blocking inappropriate content on a specific app or website?

Safe Surfer provides internet filtering by performing the following two steps:

Enforcing SafeSearch filtering within as many search engines as possible. For example, if a person using a protected device searches for "porn" in Google, it will hide explicit results from coming up (that is, only legitimate results regarding the search term "porn" will appear, such as educational resources and journal articles). This is also meant to apply to image results wherever possible. Performing this filtering reduces the risk of unwanted exposure to inappropriate content. Each search engine provider (such as Google) is responsible for the filtering system itself. We have separate filter settings available for YouTube on the Blocking menu.
In addition to SafeSearch filtering, we also block porn websites themselves. This means that if a person using a protected device attempts to visit a porn website, we stop it from talking to that website in the first place. As of 2024, we block almost 3 million adult domains and subdomains (that is, hundreds of thousands of websites).

We support enforcing SafeSearch filtering for the following search engines:

✅ Bing
✅ Brave Search
✅ DuckDuckGo
✅ Ecosia
✅ Google
✅ Yandex

We support blocking search engines that currently don't support enforcing SafeSearch under the "Unsafe search engines" category on the Blocking menu. You can also see articles on how to hide inappropriate content on platforms that don't support hiding content via network filtering by clicking this link.

It's good to keep in mind that SafeSearch systems are automated, which means that they aren't 100% accurate. It's a good idea to perform physical monitoring, in addition to having a dedicated area for using devices at home.

We also support filtering content within apps wherever possible. Due to how computer networking works, Safe Surfer cannot pull inappropriate content out of websites and apps, which is why we support blocking a wide range of websites and apps. Although, it is possible for us to remove inappropriate content if a service (such as a social media app) provides us with networking tools to enforce this. We're working to get more apps and services to support filter locking through computer networking:

NameType of serviceProvides support for filter locking through DNS networkingFilter mode(s)Safe Surfer category name
YouTubeSocial mediaModerate or Strict filterYouTube
MojeekSearch engine🔄 (working on support – February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
KagiSearch engine🔄 (planned to support – February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
GOG.comGames❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – July 2024)NoneGOG.com
StartpageSearch engine❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
YepSearch engine❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – March 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
TikTokSocial media❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – March 2024)Restricted modeTikTok
FlickrPhotos and videos❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – February 2024)SafeSearchEntertainment and arts; Potentially unsafe services
PixabayPhotos and videos❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – February 2024)SafeSearchEntertainment and arts; Potentially unsafe services
VimeoVideo sharing❌ (feedback officially confirmed as received – March 2024)Mature content filterVimeo
DogpileSearch engine❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
QwantSearch engine❌ (SafeSearch functionality broken approximately late 2023–early 2024; attempted to contact several times H1 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
Yahoo SearchSearch engine❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
Baidu (China)Search engine❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)NoneUnsafe search engines
Yahoo Search (Japan)Search engine❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
Cốc Cốc (Vietnam)Search engine❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)SafeSearchUnsafe search engines
PatreonCrowdfunding❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)NSFW filterBusiness and industrial; Potentially unsafe services
Itch.ioGames❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)Adult filterGames; Potentially unsafe services
BlueskySocial media❌ (attempted to contact in March 2024)Adult content filterBluesky
RedditSocial media❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)NSFW filterReddit
DailymotionVideo sharing❌ (attempted to contact in February 2024)Sensitive content filterVideo streaming; Potentially unsafe services

Updated on: 16/09/2024

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