YouTube introduces more age-restriction features

YouTube has announced new features to help enforce its age restrictions on videos and prevent young people from accessing mature content.

Age restrictions can be difficult to enforce online. Though, at the same time, many websites don’t try very hard — allowing users to submit their own birth date.

However, YouTube is now adding more checks to restrict mature content on the video platform.

“When content is age-restricted, users coming to YouTube must be signed-in and their account age must be 18 or older in order to view the video,” YouTube said in a product update.

Meanwhile, if you try to access age-restricted YouTube content embedded on a third-party site, you will still need to sign in.

“This will help ensure that, no matter where a video is discovered, it will only be viewable by the appropriate audience,” YouTube says.

In addition to this, YouTube will take a more active role in applying age restrictions to content. This includes algorithmic reviews of content to flag any mature content.

Creators will be able to appeal the decisions if they think their content has been incorrectly age-restricted.

YouTube age restrictions for Europe

The company says it will add additional age verification requirements for the European Union.

YouTube adds that this is to comply with the upcoming Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).

Some European users will need to provide a valid ID or credit card to verify their age. However, YouTube says this will only happen when its systems cannot establish that a viewer is over 18.

YouTube says it has built this process in line with its privacy and security principles. But this may be more information than most users are comfortable with providing.

Feature image: YouTube