YouTube Announces Limits On Recommended Videos To Teens Amid ‘Mental Health Crisis’

Topline

YouTube announced Thursday it’s limiting how often videos related to topics such as body weight and social aggression are recommended to teen users in the U.S. amid a growing number of lawsuits against social media platforms, including the Google-owned platform, alleging they’re contributing to the teen mental health crisis.

YouTube said it’s limiting how often videos related to topics such as body weight and social … [+] aggression come up as recommendations for teen users. (Photo by Olly Curtis/Future via Getty Images)

Future via Getty Images

Key Facts

YouTube and its Youth and Families Advisory Committee identified categories of videos that “could be problematic for some teens if viewed in repetition,” it said in a blog post.

The content includes videos that compare and idealize certain physical features and body weights, or shows social aggression which it defines as non-contact fights and intimidation, the blog post said.

The platform is limiting how often teen users receive recommended videos related to those topics in the U.S. starting Thursday, and will add more countries over the next year, YouTube said.

YouTube has been sued alongside other social media platforms by at least three school districts including Seattle Public Schools, which said the platforms are “causing a youth mental health crisis” making it difficult for schools “to fulfill its educational mission,” CNN reported.

In 2018, mental health experts warned that inappropriate content slipping through cracks in YouTube’s moderation process was contributing to anxiety and inappropriate sexual behavior among younger children, CNBC reported.

YouTube said in its announcement it is being advised by independent experts with backgrounds in academia, nonprofits, and clinics on how online content can impact teenage wellbeing.

Key Background

In 2018, YouTube launched its Youth and Families Advisory Committee to learn more about teen development and how teens can be affected by what they see online. Allison Briscoe-Smith, a member of the committee who is a clinician and researcher, said in YouTube’s blog post that frequently seeing content “that idealizes unhealthy standards or behaviors can emphasize potentially problematic messages—and those messages can impact how some teens see themselves.” In its lawsuit against YouTube and other social media platforms, the Howard County Public School System in Maryland accused the platforms of being “addictive and dangerous,” and said they have “rewired” how younger people “think, feel, and behave.” YouTube said in its blog post it’s continuing to enforce its Community Guidelines to remove content that violates its policies on “child safety, eating disorders, hate speech, and harassment.” YouTube is also updating its Take a Break and Bedtime reminders to be displayed more prominently and frequently since it launched the features in 2018, and is making its crisis resource panels bigger so users can look through help topics if they search for content related to suicide and self-harm. A spokesperson for YouTube told Forbes the mental health of teens and younger viewers is “an ongoing priority” for the platform.

Tangent

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was sued last week by a group of 33 states for allegedly targeting children with addictive features and promoting harmful behavior.

Big Number

95%. That’s the percentage of teens who said they use YouTube in a 2022 Pew Research Center survey.

Contra

The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on social media and youth mental health for 2023 said evidence shows “social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents,” but that there are indications it “can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”