YouTube algorithm recommends gun violence videos to children, research shows

In a new study from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a US-based NGO, questions were raised about the safety of YouTube’s recommendation system. YouTube’s algorithms are pushing video-game-loving boys to scenes of school shootings, instructions on how to use and modify guns, and even a film about notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, according to the NGO.

The researchers created separate YouTube accounts and pretended to be typical 9-year-old and 14-year-old boys who live in the US and who like to play video games. The analysts only viewed content about video games. However, some accounts clicked on videos recommended by YouTube’s algorithm, while the other profiles ignored these suggestions. The study found that the accounts that did click on the videos recommended by the platform were rapidly inundated with violent content about school shootings and gun violence – about 12 videos per day for a month. 

The study also found that some of the recommended videos included instructions on how to convert guns into automatic weapons or depictions of school shootings. Many of the videos were in violation of YouTube’s own policies on firearms, violence and child safety, and YouTube did not take any apparent steps to age-restrict the videos.

It’s just another example of quality control failures on a platform that has repeatedly told Congress, the public and parents that it is a safe platform and that its algorithms do not recommend increasingly extreme content, said Katie Paul, director of the Technology Transparency Project.