YouTube is still recommending eating disorder videos to teenage users a year after new rules were introduced to curb harmful online content, according to new research.
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate set up a simulated account for a 13-year-old girl viewing unsafe diet and body image content for the first time.
It found one in 10 videos recommended by YouTube’s Up Next algorithm featured thinspiration, extreme calorie restriction or other harmful material, although the situation had improved over the past two years.
Google, which owns YouTube, said it had a “steadfast” commitment to stopping the spread of harmful content and the videos highlighted in the report had been removed.
The findings come after telecoms regulator Ofcom said YouTube and TikTok were still not doing enough to keep young people safe and called for stronger protections.
In July 2025, a key part of the government’s Online Safety Act came into force, meaning sites like YouTube now have a legal duty to protect under-18s from dangerous content including videos that encourage or promote suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.
Sites must also consider how their algorithms could be harmful to young people and mitigate any risks. If companies do not do this, they can be fined up to 10 per cent of their global revenues.
Jazmin Kaur, 22, from Leicester, was diagnosed with anorexia when she was 13 and spent the next six years receiving NHS treatment. She said it all started quite innocently when she wanted to get fitter and healthier, so she started going online and took social media very much at face value without understanding the facts.
Jazmin said that some of the material on YouTube and other sites was helpful but most of the time it made her feel a lot worse. “Every time I left hospital, I’d have my phone with me and I’d constantly be on it,” she added. “I was fed such extreme content towards the end that I took it for my own vulnerabilities.”
At university, Jazmin decided to delete her social media accounts entirely. She is now studying for a master’s degree in paediatric nursing while working weekends in an adult mental health unit.
Alexandra Johnson, senior research manager at CCDH, said there was “some hope to be gained” from the report as it showed regulation does have an impact. “But one video is too many and we don’t want any of this content to get through, particularly to vulnerable users, where just a small algorithmic nudge can be enough to push them into a very dangerous situation,” she said.
Content still being recommended by YouTube included a “thinspo” account showing a compilation of girls idealising extreme thinness; a video which promoted a diet with a daily intake of just 170 calories, far below the healthy level for teens; and a video claiming to help users lose weight subliminally.
Google said it prohibits YouTube content which encourages or provides instructions on eating disorders “while enabling people to share stories of recovery.” It has now removed the videos featured in the CCDH report for violating its community guidelines.
“The wellbeing of our viewers is our top priority, and we work with experts including the NHS, Mind and the Mix to refine our approach to mental health,” a YouTube spokeswoman said.
In June, the government announced plans to prevent under-16s from accessing major platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and X, with the measures expected to come into force in spring 2027.
