YouTube is failing to protect vulnerable teenagers by continuing to recommend videos that promote eating disorders, despite introducing strict safety guidelines designed to shield children in the UK, a major study has found.
The investigation reveals that the video-sharing platform’s algorithms still push harmful content, including extreme dieting, calorie-restriction guides, and intense workout regimes, directly to accounts registered as teenagers. The findings raise serious questions about the tech giant’s ability to police its own site ahead of tough new British safety regulations.
Researchers created several simulated profiles representing 13- to 17-year-olds to test YouTube’s recommendation engine. They discovered that after a user watched a single, standard fitness or wellness video, the platform’s algorithm quickly began suggesting increasingly extreme content. Within hours, the accounts were being fed videos glorifying fasting, rapid weight loss, and disordered eating patterns.
Under YouTube’s global policy, announced last year, the site promised to limit repeated recommendations of content that compares physical features or idealises certain fitness levels to teenagers. However, safety campaigners argue these safeguards are failing in practice, with algorithms still prioritising viewer engagement over safety.
Cara Lisa, an eating disorder campaigner, said: “These findings are deeply alarming but sadly unsurprising. For a teenager struggling with body image, being funnelled towards this toxic content can be incredibly damaging. Algorithms do not have a conscience; they are designed to keep eyes on screens, even if it harms the user.”
The timing of the study is highly critical for YouTube, as the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, prepares to enforce the landmark Online Safety Act. Under the new legislation, tech firms face astronomical fines of up to 10% of their global turnover if they fail to adequately protect children from harmful material.
In response to the study, a spokesperson for YouTube defended its record, stating: “We have developed robust protections for teens, including features that limit the recommendation of potentially problematic content. We are currently reviewing the findings of this report and will continue to refine our systems to ensure young people remain safe.”
However, digital rights advocates insist that voluntary self-regulation has failed. Campaigners are now calling on Ofcom to take immediate, robust action when its enforcement powers come into full effect, arguing that only severe financial penalties will force tech giants to clean up their algorithms.