YouTube Algorithms Allegedly Amplify Eating Disorder Content to Adolescent Girls

December 10, 2024

A study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate raises concerns about YouTube's recommendation algorithm, suggesting it may direct teen users to content that could exacerbate body image anxieties and promote eating disorders. Approximately 70% of videos related to dieting or weight loss reportedly contained such harmful content. Such incidents highlight the need for trustworthy AI, safe and secure AI practices, and effective governance. For those interested in shaping the future of responsible AI and preventing harm through guardrails for AI, consider joining HISPI Project Cerebellum TAIM (Measure) to take action.

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Suggested mapping from embedding similarity (not a formal assessment). Browse all TAIM controls

MEASURE 2.6 — similarity 0.637, rank 1. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MEASURE 2.10 — similarity 0.637, rank 2. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MAP 1.6 — similarity 0.631, rank 3. TAIM detail and related incidents →

Alleged deployer: youtube, google
Alleged developer: youtube, google
Alleged harmed parties: adolescent-girls, youtube-users

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/873

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.