YouTube announced it will implement artificial intelligence to estimate users’ ages and automatically apply restrictions to accounts identified as belonging to minors, starting August 13th in the United States.
Accounts estimated to belong to users under 18 will receive comprehensive protections, including blocking access to age-restricted videos, displaying only non-personalized ads, sending “take a break” notifications, and limiting repeated recommendations on sensitive topics like body image. The platform will also automatically enable privacy reminders when users upload content or leave comments.
“Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin to roll out machine learning to a small set of users in the US to estimate their age, so that teens are treated as teens and adults as adults,” explained James Beser, YouTube’s director of product management. He added that YouTube will “closely monitor” the update before expanding to other countries.
This initiative aligns with global efforts to enhance child safety online, following recent implementations of online age verification rules in the UK and laws passed in several US states. The European Union is also testing an age verification prototype.
YouTube will notify users identified as under 18, providing options to verify their age through government ID, selfie verification, or credit card. Content creators may experience a shift in their audience categorized as teens, potentially resulting in reduced ad revenue.
