Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has expressed his astonishment at YouTube’s decision to restrict teenagers’ access to certain health and fitness videos.
What Happened: On Sunday, Musk responded to a news update by Mario Nawfal highlighting YouTube’s attempt to protect teens from developing negative self-perceptions.
The Alphabet Inc. GOOGL owned video sharing platform has decided to limit access to health and fitness videos that promote specific body types.
The tech billionaire gave a one-word reaction to the news saying “Seriously?”
YouTube revealed its decision last week citing an insight given by the platform’s Advisory Committee. “One insight is that teens are more likely than adults to form negative beliefs about themselves when seeing repeated messages about ideal standards in content they consume online.”
The social media site said that they are now restricting repeated recommendations of videos on content that compares physical features and idealizes some types over others for teens worldwide.
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Why It Matters: This move by YouTube comes amidst growing concerns about the impact of social media on teenagers’ mental health.
In July 2024, Instagram, a subsidiary of Meta Platforms Inc., in collaboration with the Center for Open Science (COS), initiated an investigation into the effects of social media on teen mental health.
Research has shown that exposure to idealized body images on social media platforms can lead to unhealthy behaviors and low self-worth among teenagers.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Musk has expressed his views on YouTube’s policies. Last year in October, he agreed with millions of users worldwide that YouTube ads were ‘getting out of control’.
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