AI Incident Database: YouTube Algorithms Allegedly Amplify Eating Disorder Content to Adolescent Girls
YouTube's recommendation algorithm has allegedly been directing teen users to harmful content promoting eating disorders and self-harm, according to a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Almost 70% of the recommended videos in searches related to dieting or weight loss reportedly contained content likely to exacerbate body image anxieties.
AI Incident Database · Incident 873Operator lens (medium): inspect D1 (input boundary), D2 (output validation), D4 (observability).
Event summary
YouTube's recommendation algorithm has allegedly been directing teen users to harmful content promoting eating disorders and self-harm, according to a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Almost 70% of the recommended videos in searches related to dieting or weight loss reportedly contained content likely to exacerbate body image anxieties.
Linked entities
- Google
vendor | 70%
- adolescent-girls
organisation | 70%
- youtube-users
organisation | 70%
Related graph edges
| Edge | Type | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d1 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d2 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d4 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d4 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d4 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |
| ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d6 | maps to | 60% |