YouTube: Stop Promoting Sexually Explicit Content to Kids

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YouTube: Stop Promoting Sexually Explicit Content to Kids

Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube

Young boy wearing headphones watches tablet.

YouTube is the #1 place online parents report their children have seen inappropriate sexual content – everything from cartoon characters having sex to ads for pornographic websites and games to people masturbating or having sex. It’s time YouTube enforced their own terms of service by proactively removing sexually explicit content and stop recommending it to kids.

YouTube is the most popular social media platform with kids and teens – 95% say they watch it, and 1 in 5 teens say they do so “almost constantly.” It’s also popular with very young children, hosting millions of hours of content for elementary and preschool aged kids. Yet in a recent parent survey, parents also reported YouTube was the top platform where their kids have seen sexually inappropriate content. Disturbingly, they say some of this content was recommended by YouTube to users they know are children.

Research has shown that when children are exposed to pornography and sexual content, it changes their brains and has been associated with sexual violence, unsafe sex practices, and unfullfilling sexual relationships later in life. As kids' favorite social media platform, YouTube must do better and stop exposing kids to inappropriate sexual content.

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To: Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube
From: [Your Name]

Dear Mr. Mohan,

In a recent parent survey, YouTube was named as the #1 platform where their kids have seen sexually inappropriate content. Disturbingly, some parents say some of this content was recommended by YouTube to users they know are children. YouTube has a responsibility to your millions of young users to protect them from harmful and inappropriate videos.

Parents are asking YouTube to:

- More aggressively remove sexually explicit content that violates your terms of service
- Fix your algorithm so it doesn’t recommend inappropriate sexual content to minors
- Meet with parents whose kids have been exposed to harmful content on YouTube to better understand how to keep kids safe

As the most popular social media platform with kids and teens, YouTube has a responsibility to keep kids safe. Please take the above actions to stop exposing kids to inappropriate sexual content.