YouTube limits teens’ exposure to videos related to weight and physique – Libération

Accused of harming the mental and physical health of children and adolescents through its various contents, YouTube says it wants to do better. This Thursday, September 5, the platform announced, via a press release, the deployment of new protective measures intended for adolescents aged 13 to 17 “from all over the world”. The website is thus restricting from today the exposure of adolescents to videos which may have a “impact on their well-being”, not by removing this type of content – ​​which does not violate its guidelines – but by ensuring that algorithms do not continue to offer it “repeatedly.” “These categories include content that compares physical characteristics and idealizes certain body types over others, idealizes specific fitness levels or weights, or displays some form of social aggression in the form of fighting and bullying,” details the press release.

An essential measure because adolescents are “more likely than adults to form negative self-images when they see repeated messages about ideal norms in the content they consume online,” explains Dr. Garth Graham, global head of health at YouTube. The platform also specifies that the experts on its advisory board had highlighted that certain categories of content are “harmless” for a video watched once, but that they could be “problematic” if they were viewed repeatedly.

“A higher frequency of content that idealizes unhealthy norms or behaviors may emphasize potentially problematic messages, and these messages may impact how some adolescents perceive themselves,” added Allison Briscoe-Smith, a clinician and YouTube consultant. These various safeguards could “helping teens maintain healthy role models as they naturally compare themselves to others and evaluate how they want to show up in the world,” wants to believe the clinician. However, since viewing these videos remains possible, the effectiveness of this measure remains to be demonstrated.