YouTube’s Anorexia Algorithm: How YouTube recommends harmful eating disorder videos to young girls

• The Center for Countering Digital Hate investigated YouTube and its algorithm and discovered how troubling recommendations are shown to a fictional 13-year-old user who watches a video about eating disorders for the first time. 
• YouTube is actively pushing eating disorder content — 1 in 3 videos recommended to a simulated 13-year-old girl’s account used in the study contained harmful eating disorder content, and 1 in 20 contained references to self-harm or suicide. 
• YouTube’s policies prohibit some types of eating disorder content — yet these harmful videos average more than 388,000 views each and are often paired with advertising from the biggest global brands. 
• In more than 4 out of 5 cases where researchers flagged harmful videos, YouTube failed to act. 
• “Every day this content is allowed to circulate, accelerated by powerful recommendation engines, more and more children are carelessly and unnecessarily put at risk,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO of CCDH. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 10, 2024 – YouTube is actively pushing harmful eating disorder content to vulnerable adolescents. 

In a new report, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) investigated YouTube and its algorithm for how recommendations are pushed to a fictional 13-year-old user who watches a video about eating disorders for the first time. 

Researchers created a new YouTube account presenting as a 13-year-old girl based in the United States who watches a video about eating disorders. Researchers analyzed the resulting top ten video recommendations in the adjacent “Up Next” panel. The process was repeated, simulating the experience of 100 girls, allowing researchers to analyze a total of 1,000 video recommendations. 

Videos were sorted into the following categories: 

• Harmful eating disorder content breaching YouTube’s policies 
• Other eating disorder content 
• Weight loss content 
• Unrelated content 

1 in 3 videos were about harmful eating disorder content — content that directly violates YouTube’s policies. Researchers also identified videos that contained references to self-harm or suicide. 

Example eating disorder trends recommended by YouTube: 

• Anorexia Boot Camp — videos detailing a 30-day food regime with daily limits of 0-500 calories intended to induce anorexia  
• Thinspo and skeletal imagery — videos featuring emaciated bodies to inspire thinness 
• Meanspo — content meant to encourage weight loss through bullying comments 
• What I Eat in a Day — videos showcasing the daily eating habits of those with eating disorders, often depicting extreme calorie restriction 

When these videos were flagged through the platform’s reporting system, YouTube failed to act in more than 4 out of 5 instances. Of 100 flagged videos, only 17 were removed. 

In addition to promoting these troubling topics, YouTube is actively hosting advertising from global brands next to videos about eating disorders. Ads from Nike, Wix, T-Mobile, Grammarly, Hello Fresh, and more were displayed. 

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said: 

“YouTube is profiting by preying on vulnerable children. Young people are impressionable, and YouTube’s decision to not only host but promote this content next to high-profile advertisers is reprehensible and potentially deadly. 

“YouTube has long been a popular place where children and young adults find content. The company’s lack of judicious enforcement of its own policies and claims to specifically protect children from exactly this kind of content, represents a gross failure of duty and an abdication of good corporate citizenship. It is clearer than ever that companies will not self-regulate, and YouTube is yet another in a long line of egregious examples of why we need to raise awareness and alert young people and their families to the dangers of using these platforms, and press for greater transparency and accountability.  

“In today’s world, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is archaic and outdated. It allows online platforms like YouTube to deflect responsibility for poor decisions and negligent harm.  

“Every day this content is allowed to circulate, accelerated by powerful recommendation engines, more and more children are carelessly and unnecessarily put at risk. It is time to come together to put an end to a system that encourages profit at the expense of human decency and the mental health of our children.” 

Anna Mockel, an 18-year old high school senior and mental health advocate from Maryland, said: 

“While social media didn’t cause my anorexia, it played a big role in perpetuating the cycle that I was going through. Seeing eating disorder content online made me feel like I wasn’t really facing a problem and that it was all normal. To start healing I had to remove myself from these platforms. CCDH’s report only validates my personal experience. I hope these companies can be held accountable for what’s happening so that no other teens and children see this type of content every day.” 

Ava Smithing, Advocacy Director for the Young People’s Alliance, said: 

“In my own life, I relapsed after being exposed to eating disorder content online. I still fear getting pulled back down a rabbit hole by these platforms’ harmful algorithms, and the only way I can stay safe is to not have any social media accounts. CCDH’s report underscores the reality of experiences like mine and the collective failure to act that spans tech companies, advertisers, and government. The Young People’s Alliance is proud to work alongside CCDH and other advocates to reshape the systems that promote this harmful content and hold platforms and advertisers accountable for the impact of their actions.” 

Dr. S. Bryn Austin, Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director, Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders, said:  

“CCDH’s latest report lays bare the truth that social media platforms are continuing to deliver dangerous eating disorder content to young women online. Worse yet, as CCDH’s research shows, YouTube continues to profit off of this disturbing content by placing ads for mainstream brands next to it.  

“What this incisive report makes painfully clear is that none of us – not advertisers, lawmakers, parents, nor the public – can continue to look the other way as social media platforms refuse to take the steps needed to protect children online. Our nation’s young people deserve better.”