So, here’s the story. My nephew has long since had a problem with nightmares which he thankfully managed to overcome a couple of years ago due to some extended support and therapy, recently however the problem has resurfaced and we were at a loss as to how exactly that happened. We kept a tight lid on the type of media he is exposed to and watch his content access like a hawk whatever the source.
Today he finally admitted that he has been watching some extras and content from Plex’s Discover Sources through his Watchlist. I have since learnt that managed users have access to watchlists and through the “More With” section at the bottom they have an open access to questionable imagery and extras from questionably rated old material and non-rated media sources. This was extremely disappointing for us and we immediately suspended his access to Plex including his personal media. I went down this rabbit hole to see exactly how far I would get, while the section tried it’s best to manage access and limit to say G or PG content it didn’t take long to get access to some of the stuff he was watching. Horror images, extras of guns and violence, suggestive imagery with seduction and sex etc, it’s all there.
I think this is a huge problem and parents and guardians should be aware of this risk. Years worth of therapy was undone in a couple of weeks. I was a livid and took some time to calm down before making this post. Please Plex staff. Fix this. I know you have been insistent that the watchlist can’t be disabled, if so then fixing things and managing these like this should be a priority. I tested this on Android TV and mobile, think the web also gives access. Not sure of the extent. Very disappointed.
Thank you for raising this. There is an issue on Web and Android where managed users with content ratings restrictions are able to see (Web) and select content (Android) that is beyond their restrictions. We’re investigating. This should not be happening.
Additional details, this is also only happening with content on our Plex Movies & Shows catalog.
Agreed. This is however the point. Managed users shouldn’t have access to discover sources period as acknowledged by Plex itself due to the intricacies of trying to manage access to content that is restricted. Why are exploratory options appeaing for managed users on watchlists? The whole “more from” sections should be inaccessible, the same way actor and director filmographies are inaccessible. To elaborate, see below, this is all PG rated content, the extras and images of which will be available to children.
“Things like content filtering for family and children, as easy access users with the main account being more of a management config account, and a few others. We are actively in conversation internally as to how this could be done safely for the use cases that exist here.”
While Plex has admitted that there is a bug here, there is a deeper issue.
Any media app which has any kind of streaming content or online metadata lookups has the risk of showing inappropriate content. For example, we’ve seen many, many posts over the years of movie posters and descriptions being vandalized upstream. Even if Plex were somehow certified 100% bug free, there is no way to stop bad metadata from getting into the system.
If it is a requirement that a user see only what they are supposed to see, then I think the only kind of app that makes sense is a simple player like Kodi – with its own internet access disabled.
With any kind of online system you are trusting someone else to get it right, right?
I think that was the motivation to move towards media provider Grace note, who I believe will ultimately take over for TV show ultimately. Don’t however want to distract from the issue at hand. It has a simple fix. Managed users access to discover features should be severed, focus should be on their own content as was been intimated by Plex repeatedly. I’m just holding them to their word and trying to keep my child and family safe.
I’ve a son with autism who loves to click through movies looking at posters etc… He likes to pretend he’s doing reviews. Anyhow, with the exception of porn pretty much anything can be found when clicking plex hosted deep links found within discover credits. The deep linking to external online plex hosted content is where the problem is.
This cannot and is not disabled via discover and as you have pointed, watch lists.
Why isn’t this a toggle in the settings?? If it used to exist for managed users and was hidden, why can’t Plex give admins the ability to toggle this option?
So for me to first replicate what you are calling out here, can you help me understand the setup that you are using for this scenario? I created a test managed user and have been trying to replicate what you are calling out here. Can you help me understand how this user is set up? Do you have a Restriction Profile set for this managed user? Are you using any other media filtering options or library access controls here?
Long story short, if the managed user has watchlisted anything, proceed to the watchlist section, pick out any show/movie watchlisted and scroll to the bottom of the show/movie, there are more options to browse titles from same actors, network, crew etc which open a world of opportunities including media which is unrated and old media with archaic old ratings etc. Would prefer we stick to the “managed users have no access to discover content” policy period.
Dear @Atomatth@McWanke what may I do to get some traction on this issue. I don’t know, it seemed critical to me to ensure safety of children while on Plex.
I was carrying over the managed user perspective onto this. My mistake. Thanks for the correction!
