YouTube’s New Feature Is Targeted Toward Teens Lying About Their Age
When I first joined MySpace back in the early aughts, I rolled the dial on my birth year back a few years so I would meet the minimum 13-year-old age qualification. So, really, it doesn’t surprise me that pre-teens and younger kids are doing the same simple hack to create their own social media platforms now. But finally, tech companies are fighting back. YouTube just announced that they are utilizing the help of AI to weed out adult accounts that actually belong to teens as a way to skirt the teen protections. And now that I’m a mom, I love this!
YouTube announced on Tuesday that they are rolling out technology that will help determine if an adult account (defined as 18 or older) is actually being run by a teen. “This technology will allow us to infer a user’s age and then use that signal, regardless of the birthday in the account, to deliver our age-appropriate product experiences and protections,” the company said in a statement.
YouTube has used this approach in other markets, where it is “working well.” Some of the signals the AI technology looks for to determine whether an account is an adult or a teen includes the types of videos a user is searching for, the categories of videos they have watched, or the longevity of the account.
If they identify someone as a teen, then YouTube will automatically turn on teen account protections, include disabling personalized advertising, turning on digital wellbeing tools, and adding safeguards to recommended videos, including limiting repetitive views of some content. As a reminder, they already have YouTube Kids as a safer alternative for the youngest views.
If AI messes up (because we all know it can), then a user can verify that they actually are 18 or older by using a credit card of government ID.
“YouTube was one of the first platforms to offer experiences designed specifically for young people, and we’re proud to again be at the forefront of introducing technology that allows us to deliver safety protections while preserving teen privacy,” the platform continued. “Families trust YouTube to provide a safe and enriching experience, and we’ll continue to invest to protect their ability to explore safely online.”
A study by the Pew Research Center found that 93 percent of teen boys ages 13 to 17 and 87 percent of teen girls in the same age range use YouTube. Even more worryingly, 19 percent of boys and 11 percent of girls reported using YouTube “almost constantly.” Not great if they are secretly on adult accounts without teen protections.
When we spoke to teen boys last year as part of our SheKnows’ Be a Man series, we found that even teens aren’t aware of how much time they spend on their devices. Like 16-year-old Griffin, who estimated that he was on his phone 2 to 3 hours a day, but in reality, it was 7 hours and 8 minutes on average.
“That is way more than I thought,” he told us. “I kinda forgot I’ve been on my phone ’til like 4 in the morning every night.”
A Common Sense Media study found that 61 percent of tweens (as young as age 8) and 62 percent of teens (up to age 18) admitted to watching online videos “a lot,” more than playing video games and getting on social media.
Parents are doing our best to help our kids balance screen time and spend less time online, but it’s encouraging that the tech companies themselves are starting to help out. Hopefully this will keep a lot of teens safer online!
Before you go, check out these celebrities who have shared their technology rules for their kids.