YouTube cracks down on underage users with AI age checks, stricter content controls

YouTube is taking steps to protect children and teenage users from seeing inappropriate videos and other harmful content.

The social media platform is testing AI-powered age-estimation tools to detect users under 18. If flagged as underage, users will face stricter safety controls and limited content access.

Leeza Garber, who is a cybersecurity expert and privacy attorney, said YouTube is testing algorithms to figure out who is under 18.

"They are going to monitor user habits, viewing habits, what they click on, how long they watch a video, their history, and the age of their YouTube account, to determine if they actually should be in a specialized version of YouTube geared towards kids or teens. And then they’ll have different safeguards put on their age-group,” Garber said Thursday during a one-on-one interview with The National News Desk’s Angela Brown.

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