Creative expression is worth preserving

YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world, but we must also make sure that young people learn how to explore and share safely. It’s worth preserving the tremendous benefits that come from the ability for everyone to have a voice in the context of thoughtful safeguards. YouTube provides young people with digital skills, connection, learning, and the opportunity for both creative and political expression.

For some young people, YouTube even provides the opportunity to get an early start in a creative career. Some of the world’s biggest artists — from Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa to BTS and Troye Sivan — got their start on YouTube as teenagers.

This isn’t just a creative opportunity; it’s an economic one. YouTube’s creator ecosystem supports millions of jobs around the world and contributes meaningfully to global GDP. YouTube has paid more than US$100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the last three years, in almost every country in the world.

Evidence-based regulation is a better way forward

We support evidence-based regulation that protects teens in the digital world, not from it. This includes proposals that require industry-wide standards for parental controls, limit access to specific types of risky features, require product development input from independent child safety experts, implement privacy-preserving age-estimation tools, and set clear content standards.

Regulation should also require platforms to offer a range of privacy-preserving, age-appropriate settings that help parents address the unique needs and preferences of children at every age. And regulation should ban personalized advertising to minors and the sale of children’s and teens’ personal information to third parties, including data brokers.

This type of comprehensive approach would ensure that platforms are incentivized to build safer, age-appropriate experiences, and parents are empowered to make the right choices for their families.

And of course, alongside regulation, the tech, media, and entertainment industries have a responsibility to their youngest users, and we will continue our ongoing work and investment, complementing our constructive engagement with regulators around the world on these important issues.

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