Time to Fix YouTube, here is why.
Content warning: eating disorders & self-harm
Friend,
Did you see our latest report on YouTube hurting teenage girls? We have new findings – and it doesn't get any better.
YouTube is putting teenage girls at risk not only in the US, but also in the UK and in the European Union.
We repeated the experiment of creating a test YouTube account for a 13-year-old girl. This time, the two accounts created were based in the UK and in Ireland.
Then we watched a video promoting eating disorders for the first time and analyzed the videos recommended by YouTube in the “Up Next” tab.
In total, we analyzed 100 videos recommended by the platforms in each new place – and what we found was disturbing.
In the UK:
Over half of the videos were related to eating disorders or weight loss
YouTube is profiting from this dangerous content by displaying ads from major brands, such as Ralph Lauren and L’Oreal.
In the EU:
Nearly 3 in 4 videos were for content about eating disorders or weight loss
YouTube failed to act against 79% of the videos reported by us.
Illustration: Maaike Hartjes
In case you missed it: in December, we showed that YouTube is pushing young girls to watch videos glorifying eating disorders and promoting self-harm content in the US. Here are some of our findings:
1 in 3 promoted harmful eating disorder content.
2 in 3 related to eating disorders or weight loss.
1 in 20 involved self-harm or suicide content.
CCDH’s new findings reinforce the need for immediate change. They are a stark indictment of social media executives, regulators, and lawmakers, who are failing to keep users safe and letting eating disorder content reach teens in the EU, UK, and US.
Join us in calling on YouTube to fix their algorithm and stop hurting kids. Together, we can pressure YouTube to stop enabling and profiting from this disturbing content.
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Best wishes,
The CCDH Team
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