The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) and the Asociación de Lucha against la Bulimia y Anorexia collaborated with the Google-owned video-sharing platform to broaden the scope of Community Guidelines.
In its most recent effort to address the rising mental health crisis, particularly among youths who can be “vulnerable viewers”, YouTube, the largest video-sharing site, announced on April 18 a new policy framework for eating disorder-related content.
The new guidelines specify banning “imitable behaviour” for “at-risk viewers,” which includes content that shows or describes actions like caloric restriction, exercising age restrictions on content that discusses disordered eating behaviour, and adding information about mental health resources to content about eating disorders, according to a report by Good Morning America.
“Mental health issues like eating disorders can be isolating and stigmatizing for people around the world. YouTube is an important platform for raising awareness and understanding of eating disorders from a variety of perspectives, and we want to empower creators to continue to share their stories,” Dr Garth Graham, director of YouTube Health, said in a statement.
As per the report, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) and the Asociación de Lucha against la Bulimia y Anorexia collaborated with the Google-owned video-sharing platform to broaden the scope of Community Guidelines.
YouTube boasts 2 billion users worldwide.
“In developing the new policies, we worked closely with NEDA and other groups to enhance understanding of what constitutes imitable behaviour, how it can show up in content, and how it can impact vulnerable viewers,” said Graham.
The revised policy was released about a month after researchers revealed that increased time spent on social media sites like YouTube was linked to a higher risk of developing an eating issue.
Source: Money Control
