YouTube intentionally addicts children to their platform using manipulative design. They use engineering features to serve children an endless stream of videos and recommendations that often veer into inappropriate and even harmful content. YouTube does this because they want to maximize profits—including from children. Even content aimed at toddlers and preschool children will autoplay for hours.

Combine autoplay with YouTube’s opaque algorithms that never stop recommending new content to kids, and you have a recipe for addiction among the internet’s most vulnerable people, especially kids. Some children even fall down dangerous content rabbit holes, finding extremist, violent, and other inappropriate content.

Parental controls are not working. Most parents don’t know how to manage them or what the risks are to kids’ safety and mental health.

YouTube must:

1. Set autoplay to be off by default for all kids content on YouTube and YouTube Kids.

2. End algorithm-based recommendations for kids’ content entirely.

UPDATE: YouTube has made some concessions toward the goals of this petition, but half-measures aren't enough to protect our kids! After facing intense public pressure, YouTube recently announced they would make autoplay off by default on kids' accounts and create an option to turn off autoplay on YouTube Kids. We demand that they turn autoplay off by default on ANY content for kids, regardless of how it's viewed, and that they end algorithm-driven recommendations on kids content completely. Sign on to show your support for ending addictive features that harm kids!