YouTube Stops Recommending Videos About Weight, Physical Appearance to Teens; Adds New Supervision Feature

YouTube is improving the safeguards of its platform to make it a better experience for minor users. On Thursday, the video-streaming giant announced that it will restrict video recommendations about body weight, fitness, and physical appearance to teenagers. The company said that the decision was made based on suggestions provided by an advisory committee which also revealed that teenagers are more likely than adults to form negative beliefs about themselves — the company says that this is reason for the new restrictions on the platform.

YouTube Improves Safeguards for Teenagers

In a blog post, the video-streaming giant detailed the categories of videos that will no longer be recommended to teenagers. It includes videos that compare physical features or idealise one type of feature over others, idealise specific fitness levels or body weights, or emphasise social aggression as non-contact fights and intimidation. This change is being rolled out to users globally.

YouTube said that the decision came after an advisory committee shared important insights about the impact of the platform on the developmental stages of teens. “One insight is that teens are more likely than adults to form negative beliefs about themselves when seeing repeated messages about ideal standards in the content they consume online,” it added.

The company highlighted that while watching a single video of the abovementioned categories could be harmless, repetitive suggestions can have a harmful impact on teenagers. YouTube is also improving its Community Guidelines to remove content and prevent minors from seeing videos that breach its policies.

Apart from this, the platform is also making crisis support resource panels available in several countries in Europe. These panels are designed to help people connect with support from suicide and self-harm. Users suffering from these can be redirected to third-party crisis hotlines if they search for certain queries related to these topics.

To further make the platform safer for minors, YouTube is also introducing a new supervised experience. With this, parents and teenagers have the option to link their accounts. Once linked, parents can see their teens' channel activity on YouTube. The company says it will help parents offer encouragement and advice on responsible content creation. This feature is currently under development, but soon parents will be able to link accounts by visiting a new section dubbed Family Centre hub.