Youtube issue

[Louise McBrearty]

We have youtube turned on for everyone but one year group are getting a screen saying that they are blocked - looked at admin portal and it is checked on for everyone??? Help - at end of line here!

Louise McBrearty

[Greg P Ashe]

What eco-system are you running with ? It is Google Workspace or M365 or...

Gregory Ashe

IT Manager

Main: +353 61 621010

Direct: +353 61 386443

Mobile: +353 87 2346850

      

On Mon, 12 Oct 2026 at 15:38, Louise McBrearty <lmcbr...@stdominics.ie> wrote:

We have youtube turned on for everyone but one year group are getting a screen saying that they are blocked - looked at admin portal and it is checked on for everyone??? Help - at end of line here!

Louise McBrearty

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[Chris Reina]

Hi Louise,

If it is Google Workspace as your backend Admin Portal…

You may need to re-allow the service (even if it is turned on) - for “Under 18” users.

Also - note that Google Workspace has begun presuming everyone is under 18 - unless specifically made 18+.

Many thanks!

Chris

> He / him - what’s this?

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[Louise McBrearty]

Google workspace!

Louise McBrearty

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[Greg P Ashe]

Most likely then that setting on an OU overrides parent OU - what is the exact error message?

Is YouTube being prevented or just content not being displayed?

Gregory Ashe

IT Manager

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[Louise McBrearty]

It says it is blocked!

Louise McBrearty

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[Greg P Ashe]

Could be aged-based settings causing this - I presume all the affected students are in an Org Unit to themselves? Are those users marked as being U18?

Gregory Ashe

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[Pat Duffy]

Louise, 

once you've got around all the age-related restrictions within Google Workspace Admin console, you then have the added headache of YouTube Restricted Mode being enforced by SchoolsBroadband - details at the bottom of this page www.oidetechnologyineducation.ie/technology-infrastructure/schools-broadband-programme/

It's too restrictive IMO. A simpler solution would be to request that all schools activate split-level filtering where students are restricted from social media etc and where staff devices have a bit more freedom to access to YouTube etc 

P 

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[Greg P Ashe]

Pat you have now opened a can of worms casually throwing in the phrase "split level filtering" 😂

Gregory Ashe

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[Chris Reina]

😂 Lovely.

I do like an ‘ol’ bit of split-level filtering in the morning. 

Just to add fuel to the fire, I’m currently prepping for a workshop on Binary numbers for Maths Week - and going over translating IP address’ to and from Binary. My only wish is that just one person says “huh? That’s a thing” then spends hours down rabbit holes. 😉

Chris

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[Pat Duffy]

😅😅 apologies for the early can of worms! 

This YouTube issue is frustrating tbh. Even with split-level filtering (sorry again!!), Unrestricted YouTube access granted in G Workspace, and teachers designated as over 18, it really is hit-and-miss as to whether YouTube will work for them. 

Sometimes it will, no problem. Then out of nowhere, they either get a black screen with no video playing, a 'No internet connection' error message or a lovely 'Not secure - Your connection isn't private' error message.

Seriously Oide, can something be done from your end? Yes, there are inherent dangers with unrestricted YouTube access, but we can't ignore how invaluable a resource it is for History / Science / English teachers, in fact for all teachers when used properly. Our students have zero Youtube access anyway so why restrict it at all?

Le meas

P 

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[Chris Reina]

Pat,

You’re definitely right. I have also found that using split-level filtering (recommended by Oide) the same behaviour you’ve experienced.

It’s hit and miss - and I can definitely trace it back to the Juniper firewall. (Because if you remove the firewall from the equation - it works fine!)

Depending on the school - (usually secondary) - some have opted to have 2 incoming pipes: one via Oide and the other just Eir, etc.

These can both be put through a Unifi Dream Machine and the connection separated out for those that use YouTube and those that don’t.

Messy solution, but it works.

C

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[Eugene McDonough]

Hi all,

Pat and Chris, I’ve seen the same thing across several of my schools since early October, so you’re not imagining it.

There have been changes to the central Schools Broadband filtering. Symptoms we’ve seen:

• YouTube blocked or not playing for staff, even with split-level filtering in place. This includes the black screen Pat describes.
• “Your connection isn’t private” errors (NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID) on YouTube, OneDrive, ClassDojo and other sites. If you check the certificate, it’s issued by Cisco Umbrella, not the real site. The filter is opening up secure traffic, and school devices don’t trust it.
• Hosted VoIP phones failing to register.

At one school I traced the split-level problem to DNS. If your school uses its own DNS server, the lookups go out on the school’s main IP address. So YouTube gets checked at the main (student) level and blocked, and the teacher level never applies. This may also explain the hit-and-miss behaviour, depending on which route a device’s lookup takes.

A word of warning: it’s tempting to send your DNS out on the teacher address instead. Don’t. Every device uses that DNS server, so students would get the less restrictive teacher filtering and could reach sites that should be blocked for them.

The good news: the Broadband Service Desk and Asiera (formerly HEAnet) know about this. They are working on a fix for all schools, rather than one-off fixes per school. So it may be worth waiting before going down the second-line route.

Hope that saves someone some head-scratching.

Regards,

Eugene McDonough
Stratus IT

+353 (0)87 653 7694 |  LinkedIn: EugeneWMcDonough

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