YouTube will limit teens' exposure to videos that promote or idealize certain fitness levels or physical appearances, the company said Thursday, a safeguard that was first rolled out in the United States last year and is now being rolled out to teens around the world.
The announcement comes as YouTube has faced criticism over the past few years for exposing teens to content that could harm them and encourage eating disorders.
The types of content that YouTube will limit exposure to include videos that compare physical attributes or idealize a particular fitness level, body type or weight. YouTube will also limit exposure to videos that display “social aggression” in the form of non-contact fights or threats.
The Google-owned platform noted that while this type of content may not be as harmful as a single video, it can become problematic if the content is shown to teenagers repeatedly. To combat this, YouTube will limit repeat recommendations of videos related to these topics.
Because YouTube's recommendations are based on users' tendencies to watch and engage with, the platform needs to put these safeguards in place to prevent teens from being repeatedly exposed to content, even if it complies with YouTube's guidelines.
“Repeated viewing of content featuring idealized standards may lead teens to form unrealistic internal standards as they reflect on themselves and their own standards for themselves, potentially forming negative beliefs about themselves,” Dr. Garth Graham, YouTube's head of global health, said in a blog post.
Thursday's announcement came a day after YouTube introduced new tools that allow parents to link their accounts to their teens' accounts and access analytics about their teens' activity on the platform. When parents link their accounts to their teens' accounts, they'll receive notifications about their child's channel activity, including the number of uploads and subscriptions.
The tool builds on YouTube's current parental controls, allowing parents to test supervised accounts for children under the age of consent for online services (13 in the U.S.). It's worth noting that other social apps, including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, also offer parent-linked supervised accounts for younger users.