Within the last few years, more and more steps have been taken to protect and restrict users online. The UK passed the Online Safety Act in 2023, making online media sites responsible for shielding minors from inappropriate content. Similar laws have already been proposed in other countries, including the U.S. Kids Online Safety Act.
Amidst all these recent trends, Youtube, the mass video site, has taken steps to identify minors and restrict their viewing content. With significant testing in July 2025, Youtube has slowly implemented the full force of their verification system.
Powered by AI, Youtube’s system tracks users’ watching habits and the types of content they consume in order to estimate their real age. If it determines they are a minor, Youtube will restrict access to mature content, limit autoplay, and add various safeguards. However, there is a way out.
If Youtube wrongly identifies someone as a minor, users can manually verify themselves by submitting a government ID, selfie, or credit card.
The change was met with incredible amounts of backlash from both users and creators. Informative Youtuber Penguinz0, also known as Moistcritikal, talked about the change in a heated video on his channel.
In discussing the sites’ push to protect their younger users, he states, “When you stop to think about it, it’s very clear that there is no way of doing that without stripping freedoms from everyone else. . . It should not be the governments responsibility nor the platforms to ensure that kids aren’t making those accounts, it is the parents.”
Similarly, famed gaming Youtuber Jacksepticeye discussed the change on his own channel, while also bringing attention to Youtube’s continual push towards AI content.
Around the same time the verification system was proposed, Youtube presented its new AI shorts video generator powered by Google’s own Veo 3 Fast generative AI model. The AI allows users to generate videos from photos, add new dialogue, restyle footage and several other features.
Jacksepticeye discussed the problematic nature of the generative AI stating, “How many times will it use peoples likeness without their permission? How many times will it generate real people into scenarios they don’t want to be represented in? It’s opening the flood gates to changing youtube into a platform that is not why I started being a Youtuber. One that continually devalues human creativity.”
Bishop O’Dowd’s own students have had similar reactions to the change as well. Trevor Erickson ’26 says, “They are ruining the platform that made my childhood.” Fellow senior Rocco Doubrava ’26 echoes the sentiment, “Not only is the AI ineffective, it is completely unnecessary.”
As consumers, it is forever important to hold the platforms and distributors accountable for their actions, especially with so many rising artists and creatives within Bishop O’Dowd’s own community.
