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Enforce SafeSearch for Linewize Filter Appliances

Updated
This article is for IT Support. 

SafeSearch is a service run by Microsoft and Google to remove mature content from search results in Bing, Google and YouTube. You can configure your Linewize Filter Appliance to enforce SafeSearch and fine-tune it using different criteria and modes.

  Warning

Ensure SafeSearch is only turned on in one location, as it will not work if it’s turned on in more than one place, such as:

  1. Your school's firewall
  2. Your school's Google Workspace
  3. Your Linewize Filter physical Appliance
  4. Your Connect for Chrome, Windows, macOS, and iOS app

For this reason, we recommend installing and enforcing SafeSearch using Linewize Connect, whenever possible to reduce the load on your appliance and make it easier to troubleshoot.

Before you begin

  • You can segment your SafeSearch configuration into custom SafeSearch profiles, if you need different search access by groups. You can identify a range of IP addresses, the subnet for a group of devices or create Object Pools with MAC addresses or IP addresses.
  • Consider the YouTube filter mode set for your school. If your school sets YouTube into strict search mode, teachers can’t override this in Classwize.

Turn on SafeSearch

  1. Go to Filtering > SafeSearch.
  2. Select Add Policy.
  3. Select a Criteria from the dropdown. Otherwise, leave the Criteria blank if you want to apply the SafeSearch configuration to all users.
Criteria Description
User Select a single user name from a list
Group Select a list name from your predefined Groups
Network Range Type the starting and ending IP addresses for a range of devices
Network Type IP address and subnet mask for a group of devices
IP Address Type a single IP address
IP Address Object Select one of your pre-configured Pools of IP Addresses
MAC Address Type the MAC address of a single device
MAC Address Object Select one of your pre-configured Pools of MAC addresses
  1. Select Enforced for Google SafeSearch to enforce age-appropriate Google Search results (websites and images).
  2. To enforce age-appropriate video results, select Moderate or Strict for YouTube SafeSearch.
    1. Strict mode blocks videos, comments, recommendations, and YouTube search results based on Linewize Filter’s filtering categories for the most sensitive viewers.
    2. Moderate mode adds some limited access topics suitable for older students who need legitimate access to subjects such as war history, social issues or human biology.
  3. To enforce age-appropriate search results in Bing, select Enforced for Bing SafeSearch.
  4. Select Save Policy.

Repeat the steps if you need to create different SafeSearch criteria for a separate group of users or devices.