Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Brereton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Mature news site includes fluff, swears, adult content.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Videos and Photos
BuzzFeed
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 5 parent reviews
Based on 23 kid reviews
Kids say the website can be entertaining and engaging with quizzes and videos, but it contains a significant amount of inappropriate content including swearing and sexual references, which raises concerns for parents. While some reviewers recommend parental guidance, others argue that mature teens and adults can enjoy it if they are discerning about what they click on, indicating a mixed reception about its suitability for younger audiences.
- inappropriate content
- engaging quizzes
- parental guidance
- mixed suitability
- mature audiences
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
News and entertainment website BUZZFEED -- founded by a Huffington Post creator -- says it shares its list-themed posts, quizzes, and other items with a global audience of more than 200 million. The site's content is a mix of short videos, pet pictures, celebrity features, and attention-grabbing headlines that promise to inform readers about everything from 19 versions of pizza from around the world to breaking news they might find on CNN or MSNBC.
Is It Any Good?
BuzzFeed posts cover the gamut from thought-provoking social injustice issues to funny yet not really educational GIF-based lists. Celebrity news items pop up fairly frequently, and popular posts are marked with labels such as "omg" and "cute." It's easy to get sucked into reading more than you'd planned; content suggestions appear below and beside posts, and you can choose from more than two dozen topics. You'll need to search for keywords to find precise reading selections; finding posts on health, for example, is simple -- but locating ones on seasonal allergies isn't as easy because posts don't have highly specific tags.
Finding content really isn't a huge issue on BuzzFeed. But the type of content may be of concern to many parents, since the site doesn't seem to have a lot of restrictions. Some posts contain swearing, nudity, and violent images -- a bevy of things parents likely wouldn't want younger users (or some older teens) to see. Viewing the site together may help parents keep kids from clicking posts meant for an older audience.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how much time you should spend on sites such as BuzzFeed that have a lot to read and look at. How can kids balance screen time and offscreen activities?
How can you tell if a site that has some kid-friendly posts, such as puppy videos, is OK for kids? Talk about what kinds of posts might be too adult for kids.
If you're logged into Facebook, you can easily post comments on BuzzFeed without registering for the site. But if your Facebook username is your full name, is that safe? View your child's page as a random Facebook user to ensure private information isn't visible.
Website Details
- Subjects : Language & Reading : discussion , reading , Science : biology , chemistry , ecosystems and the environment , Social Studies : events , global awareness , power structures
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : investigation , part-whole relationships , Self-Direction : academic development , personal growth
- Genre : Blogging
- Pricing structure : Free
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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