YouTube amps up age-restriction of videos

Along with encouraging creators to age-restrict their own content and manual reviewing, YouTube is building on machine learning to scale automated age-restriction of videos.

Age-restricted videos require users to sign-in to confirm their age or are redirected. The YouTube Trust & Safety team applies age-restriction on videos when, in the course of reviewing content, they encounter a video that isn't appropriate for viewers under 18.

Going forward, YouTube will build on the approach of using technology to detect content for review, by developing and adapting technology to help automatically apply age-restrictions.

Uploaders can appeal the decision if they believe it was incorrectly applied. For creators in the YouTube Partner Program, it is expected these automated age-restrictions to have little to no impact on revenue, as most of these videos also violate advertiser-friendly guidelines and therefore have limited or no ads.

Also Read: YouTube introduces helpful updates for creators

To make the experience consistent, viewers attempting to access age-restricted videos on most third-party websites will be redirected to YouTube where they must sign-in and be over 18 to view it, to help ensure that, no matter where a video is discovered, it will only be viewable by the appropriate audience.

Because the use of technology will result in more videos being age-restricted, the YouTube policy team took this opportunity to revisit where they draw the line for age-restricted content.

After consulting with experts and comparing the platform against other global content rating frameworks, only minor adjustments were necessary. The policy pages have been updated to reflect these changes. All the changes outlined will roll out over the coming months.