According to a report of the Tech Transparency Project (TTP)a watchdog group covering the activities of large tech companies and social media, YouTube allegedly offered gun videos to underage users. But YouTube questioned the methodology of the research.
YouTube allegedly recommended gun videos to minors
According to the research, YouTube would have suggested to young video game enthusiasts videos showing weapons and scenes of violence. The report claims that the algorithm di YouTube would not take into account the age of the viewers, but only of their interests based on chronology of the videos seen. A YouTube spokesperson responded that i children can use YouTube Kids, a more secure version of the platform. Furthermore, he criticized the methodology of the research.
The TTP report is based on four trial accounts, two for 14-year-olds and two for 9-year-olds (connected to the parental account). The researchers set off pvideo game laylist. Only one account in each age group followed YouTube recommended videos.
The results show that both 14-year-olds and 9-year-olds would receive videos of guns and shootingsbut to a greater extent those who have clicked on the suggested videos. Among the videos there are those that they talk about school shootings, showing the effects of weapons on the human body and teaching turn a pistol into an automatic weapon. Some of these videos would violate YouTube rules and should not be present on the platform.
According to one study, in a month the algorithm would have suggested more than 1300 gun videos, averaging 44 per day. Some videos have been classified incorrectly. For example, the movie “My Friend Dahmer” received the PG ratingtherefore for families.
The Tech Transparency Project argues that thehint algorithm would be flawed. A YouTube spokesman said the study it does not explain how test accounts were set up and whether the supervised experience tools were used. However, it specifies that minors should use YouTube Kids.