Opinion: Big Tech Streamed a Photo of a Bloody Clown to My Kids' Device, and I'm Angry

A few years ago, I bought an Echo show because I wanted me kids to be able to listen to Disney lullabies before bed.

It's set up in their room, and it has a screen.

This week, the giant tech company behind the Echo made a very bad choice. They decided to stream an image of a terrifying, grotesque clown to the screen of my kids' device.

This is what my four-year-old woke up to in the morning:

Photo byBay Area Telegraph

How is that an acceptable thing to show to a kid? Who thought it was a good idea to stream that image--a blood-soaked guy with bad teeth, eye makeup, and crazy hair--into the rooms of millions of kids around the country?

It turns out the image is an ad for a new Beetlejuice horror movie. The movie is rated PG-13. And yet the Echo has no problem streaming this grotesque ad into the bedroom of my preschooler.

It's part of a bigger trend. It used to be that when you loaded up Netflix, you got to actually choose what you wanted to watch.

Now, Netflix automatically plays previews of shows and movies the second you land on them, whether you press Play or not.

Did they ever consider that maybe I didn't want my kids to see a preview of some very adult World War 2 drama while they're trying to scroll around and find Cocomelon?

The FTC has already fined tech companies over $170 million for illegally advertising to kids. From what I've seen on nearly any screen-enabled device in my home, they haven't gotten the picture.

If you need something for a screensaver, Big Tech, maybe choose something uplifting. My Google Chromecast shows beautiful photos on its idle screen, not horrifying zombie clowns like the Echo.

Or better yet, stop forcing content on us that we don't actually choose. And especially, stop forcing in on our kids, who are too young to know how to make those choices.

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