Understanding age estimation on YouTube

Note: YouTube’s age estimation is not used for accessing advanced features. Learn more about getting access to intermediate and advanced features

We’re committed to bringing the best, most age-appropriate experience & protections to users on YouTube. This starts with users telling us their age when they make an account. To provide a safer and higher quality experience for our teen users, we also use an age estimation model to determine if a user is over or under the age of 18. We do this regardless of the birthdate in their account in order to put protections in place for more teens on YouTube.

If our age estimation model determines a user is under 18, standard protections for teen users are automatically applied to their YouTube experience (more info below). This model is currently applied in several countries, including the US, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and countries in the European Economic Area. We will continue expanding to more countries soon.

Note: If you believe the age estimation model has incorrectly determined your age, you can always verify your age by submitting your government ID, credit card or selfie through a verification process in your Google Account. Learn more about verifying your age.

Learn about viewer protections

If our age estimation model determines that a user is under 18, these changes will be automatically applied to the user’s account:

Learn about creator protections

If we determine that a creator is under 18, the following changes will be automatically applied to their account in addition to the settings above:

  • Uploads set to private: Creators will have all new uploads set to private in Creator Studio. Creators have the ability to review and update these privacy settings at any point.
  • Gifts: Creators will not be able to earn from gifts on vertical livestreams, which requires users to be estimated or verified as 18+.
  • Safety reminders: Creators will get reminders to be thoughtful about their own privacy when uploading a video or commenting publicly.
Note: Audience reports in analytics currently only show viewership by age a user set during account creation. It does not reflect users determined by our age estimation model as under 18 at this time. We are working to make this change and will share more soon.

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