YouTube is coming up with more artificial intelligence technology to check further on videos that may require age restrictions. More of the platform’s viewers will have to sign into their accounts to verify their age before watching.
Beginning 2017, YouTube has used machine learning techniques in order to catch more violent extremism. This also includes more of its most severe content. Moreover, to find videos that included hateful conduct.
YouTube will use the same approach to automatically flag videos that it deems not appropriate for certain age groups. The platform now expects to see far more videos pop up with age-gated restrictions.
The company is preparing for some mistakes in labeling as they apply changes. Audiences of YouTube videos embedded on third-party sites will be redirected to YouTube to sign in and verify their age.
YouTube Partner Program
This may be a challenge to YouTube creators who monetize their videos from the YouTube Partner Program. That is whether these moderation measures will have an effect on their money-making potential. The YouTube team says this is unlikely as the majority of the videos it expects will receive automatic age restrictions.
The changes will also likely violate the company’s advertiser-friendly guidelines as those videos would already have limited or no ads.
The company anticipates mistakes to happen along with these changes. Countless incidents of wrongfully applied labels and takedowns have illustrated this in the past. Additionally, all manner of copyright strike controversies have occurred before.
But YouTube has put together its appeals team to handle appeals as they come in. Another concern for creators is age-restricted videos won’t appear on the homepage.
While this is true, age-restricting doesn’t automatically disallow videos from appearing on the homepage, according to YouTube.
Reason for the Rollout
This follows as YouTube tries to address global criticism from concerned parents groups. This also includes advocacy boards over the website being unsafe for children.
Its team routinely says YouTube isn’t for anyone under the age of 13 due to federal privacy protections. Moreover, pointing to YouTube Kids as the supposedly safer alternative.
Yet that doesn’t stop young children from accessing the app at home or elsewhere to watch videos. Many popular channels orient around creating content specifically for kids.
Currently, YouTube’s trust and safety team apply restrictions to videos during reviews. A video gets an age-gate if Youtube deems it inappropriate for anyone under 18 years old.
Additional Steps for People in the European Union
YouTube’s post says there may be a few additional steps the new rules require for people in the European Union. This is in line with upcoming regulations like the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Some users in these countries may need to provide additional evidence of their age.
According to the post, they may need to provide a valid ID or credit card to verify their age. That is, if the systems can’t verify that someone is over the age of 18.
It’s going to be a one-time process and YouTube will have to delete the information after it’s sent. YouTube says the process was built to adhere to Google’s privacy and security principles.
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