YouTube is taking steps to stop recommending videos to teenagers that promote certain fitness levels, weights, or physical characteristics after experts warn about the potential harm of repeated viewing.
Although 13- to 17-year-olds can still watch videos on the platform, YouTube will no longer automatically lead them to a “maze” of related content through algorithms.
While this type of content does not violate YouTube’s guidelines, the platform recognizes the negative impact it can have on the health of some users if viewed repeatedly.
Dr Garth Graham, YouTube’s head of global health, stated that repeated exposure to idealized standards could lead teenagers to develop unrealistic self-perceptions and negative beliefs about themselves.
Experts from YouTube’s Youth and Family Advisory Board advised that certain categories of videos, harmless individually, could become troubling when viewed repeatedly.
YouTube’s new guidelines, being rolled out globally, target content that idealizes certain physical features, fitness, weight, or social aggression, among others.
Teenagers who have registered their age on the platform will no longer be repeatedly recommended such topics, following a safety framework already implemented in the US.
Clinician and YouTube advisor Allison Briscoe Smith emphasized the importance of setting “guardrails” to help teens maintain healthy self-perceptions when exposed to idealized standards.
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In the UK, new online safety legislation mandates technology companies to protect children from harmful content and consider the risks their algorithms may pose to under-18s by exposing them to harmful content.
Source: www.theguardian.com
