Drug use or self-injurious behavior – content about such topics can be found as a matter of course on platforms such as Tiktok, Youtube or Instagram. Social media, where children and teenagers in particular spend their time.
So it's only right that Youtube is tightening its guidelines and restricting or removing videos about eating disorders altogether. But whether this will be enough to make the video portal safe for the young target group remains questionable. The video portal once again resorts to age restrictions.
Effective means?
This means that minors will no longer be able to watch videos about eating disorders. However, it is not very effective that the restriction can be circumvented with just a few clicks.
Other platforms also boast about their protection of minors, but things don't look any better there. For example, on Tiktok, terms such as "drugs" or substances such as "MDMA" are blocked for searching, but alternative search terms have long since developed for them. It only takes a few minutes for an internet-savvy teenager to find them.
More protection of minors is good and right. But it must also be effective.