YouTube Introduces Age Restrictions for Violent Content in Games and Online Casinos

The update will affect underage users worldwide. How will the platform distinguish children from adults, and what is the rationale behind these measures?

What does the virtual environment feed a child, and to what extent is online safety a concern? These questions are currently rhetorical. YouTube will introduce new age restrictions for violent content in games and online casinos. The update will go live worldwide on November 17th and will affect users under 18 and those who have not completed the authorization process.

Protect children from dangers - YouTube will restrict more content by age.

Tragedies overseas are a terrifying mirror we can't help but look into. While platforms try to protect children from digital violence, in the United States, it has long since become a reality. Hundreds of mass shootings occur in the States every year. Dozens of them are in educational institutions.

This is how teenagers blur the line between the virtual and real worlds. Restrictions will apply to videos featuring realistic scenes of torture and violence in games where characters resembling real people suffer. A separate ban applies to content related to "social casinos"—that is, games where virtual bets are placed on in-game items.

Igor Zhaborovsky, parent:

"We restrict children in real life from any dangerous things they might encounter. The internet is the same—it's the same world, even though it's called virtual—but today it's the same world, only the dangers are even greater. And leaving children alone with this danger is, of course, absolutely unacceptable."

The platform promises to use artificial intelligence that will analyze user behavior: what they watch, what they search for, and how long their account has been active. If AI decides it's a teenager, it automatically switches to "child mode." Time will tell whether this is effective.

The threats posed by the internet are growing every day. A revised law on child protection will come into force in Belarus in January.

With smartphones driving life, anxiety and depression rates among minors are breaking records. The world's first age restrictions for social media will be introduced in Australia on December 10. Nine major platforms will deactivate hundreds of thousands of accounts of users under 16.

Ensure Children's Safety Online

So why is all this necessary? The new rules aren't just lines in a privacy policy. They send a message that the virtual world should be a safe environment for development, not a battleground for a child's attention and psyche. This is a necessary step for the internet to finally mature and begin protecting its most vulnerable users.