A girl named Anna Mockel said that YouTube pushed her eating disorder by constantly showing her content about it. She said that she was 14 years old in 2020 when she started spending a lot of time on YouTube. She was watching anything and everything and she also came across some videos of girls who were skinny. She wanted to become like those girls so she soon started watching videos of similar girls who were skinny and talking about losing weight. Anna soon started seeing much content on YouTube related to eating disorders and weight loss. There was a lot of content glorifying daily intake of just 500 calories, instead of 2200 that is recommended for adolescent girls.
Anna said that she was young and watching content that was already being shown to her so she started gravitating towards it. She started copying all those diets and soon she was diagnosed with anorexia. She added that it didn't come to her mind that anorexia could be a problem as many other people were doing it too. She blamed social media for glorifying eating disorders, but especially blamed YouTube because she saw all types of eating disorders and weight loss content there.
A new report by Center for Countering Digital Hate also suggests something similar and found that when users search or watch anything weight loss or diet related, YouTube recommends them content that could be harmful and as it glorifies body image hate. These types of videos also get an average of 344,000 views which is almost 60 times more than other YouTube videos. These videos also get ads from major companies like Grammarly, Nike and T-Mobile and it's too soon to say if these companies are aware of this or not.
For the report, a profile was created as a 13 years old girl and 1000 videos were surveyed in the upcoming section that a teen girl could receive after watching videos about weight loss or diet for the first time. Researchers also used keywords like eating disorder (ED), what I eat in a day (WIEIAD), anorexia boot camp diet(ABC) and safe foods. The top ten results after searching with these keywords were analyzed.
The results showed that 638 of the videos were pushing 13 years old girls towards weight loss and eating disorder, 344 of the YouTube recs were harmful and 50 of the videos has content related to self harm and suicide.
This shows that YouTube is doing something that is against Google’s own policies, and is spreading anti-human culture. There are also some lawsuits against YouTube and other social media sites that are promoting harmful content to young girls. When YouTube was asked if it is doing this intentionally, YouTube declined to comment and said that they are working with mental health experts to refine their approach for recommendation to teens. YouTube has blocked certain keywords on its sites, but it is reported that some topics that have been blocked still appear in YouTube’s Up Next panel.
While YouTube has faced criticism for promoting harmful content related to eating disorders, it’s important to recognize its potential as a valuable resource for those seeking reliable health advice. With careful research and discernment, users can access expert-led discussions, credible nutrition tips, and mental health support, making it a powerful tool for spreading awareness and combating misinformation. Engaging with the comments section under videos can further enrich understanding by offering diverse perspectives and personal experiences from other viewers. However, these benefits depend on users’ ability to critically evaluate sources and navigate the platform responsibly, avoiding algorithm-driven traps that may amplify misleading or harmful content.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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Anna said that she was young and watching content that was already being shown to her so she started gravitating towards it. She started copying all those diets and soon she was diagnosed with anorexia. She added that it didn't come to her mind that anorexia could be a problem as many other people were doing it too. She blamed social media for glorifying eating disorders, but especially blamed YouTube because she saw all types of eating disorders and weight loss content there.
A new report by Center for Countering Digital Hate also suggests something similar and found that when users search or watch anything weight loss or diet related, YouTube recommends them content that could be harmful and as it glorifies body image hate. These types of videos also get an average of 344,000 views which is almost 60 times more than other YouTube videos. These videos also get ads from major companies like Grammarly, Nike and T-Mobile and it's too soon to say if these companies are aware of this or not.
For the report, a profile was created as a 13 years old girl and 1000 videos were surveyed in the upcoming section that a teen girl could receive after watching videos about weight loss or diet for the first time. Researchers also used keywords like eating disorder (ED), what I eat in a day (WIEIAD), anorexia boot camp diet(ABC) and safe foods. The top ten results after searching with these keywords were analyzed.
The results showed that 638 of the videos were pushing 13 years old girls towards weight loss and eating disorder, 344 of the YouTube recs were harmful and 50 of the videos has content related to self harm and suicide.
This shows that YouTube is doing something that is against Google’s own policies, and is spreading anti-human culture. There are also some lawsuits against YouTube and other social media sites that are promoting harmful content to young girls. When YouTube was asked if it is doing this intentionally, YouTube declined to comment and said that they are working with mental health experts to refine their approach for recommendation to teens. YouTube has blocked certain keywords on its sites, but it is reported that some topics that have been blocked still appear in YouTube’s Up Next panel.
While YouTube has faced criticism for promoting harmful content related to eating disorders, it’s important to recognize its potential as a valuable resource for those seeking reliable health advice. With careful research and discernment, users can access expert-led discussions, credible nutrition tips, and mental health support, making it a powerful tool for spreading awareness and combating misinformation. Engaging with the comments section under videos can further enrich understanding by offering diverse perspectives and personal experiences from other viewers. However, these benefits depend on users’ ability to critically evaluate sources and navigate the platform responsibly, avoiding algorithm-driven traps that may amplify misleading or harmful content.
Read next: Microsoft's AI Leader Challenges OpenAI's Quick AGI Predictions
