YouTube bans any livestreams from ‘younger minors’ unless they’re joined by adults in an effort to fight back against pedophilia

YouTube will ban "younger minors" from being able to livestream on the platform unless they are obviously joined by an adult, according to The New York Times.

The move is said to be in response to criticism that YouTube was enabling pedophiles.

What are the details?

The Google-owned video platform was reportedly recommending videos of children after YouTube users executed a search for "sexually themed content."

In a blog post, a spokesperson for YouTube said, "We updated enforcement of our live streaming policy to specifically disallow younger minors from live streaming unless they are clearly accompanied by an adult. Channels not in compliance with this policy may lose their ability to live stream."

YouTube also added that "responsibility is our number one priority, and chief among our areas of focus is protecting minors and families."

One mother told the outlet that a video of her 10-year-old daughter playing in a backyard pool amassed more than 400,000 views.

"I saw the video ... and I got scared by the number of views," she said.

The company also noted that it intended to use algorithms to remove livestreams and related channels for violating the rule.

On Monday, the NYT reported that "users do not need to look for videos of children to end up watching them."

"The platform can lead them there through a progression of recommendations," the outlet revealed. "So a user who watches erotic videos might be recommended videos of women who become conspicuously younger, and then women who pose provocatively in children's clothes. Eventually, some users might be presented with videos of girls as young as 5 or 6 [years old] wearing bathing suits, or getting dressed, or doing a split."

What else?

YouTube did not elaborate on the age group covered by the term "younger minors."

"YouTube is a company made up of parents and families, and we'll always do everything we can to prevent any use of our platform that attempts to exploit or endanger minors. Kids and families deserve the best protection we have to offer: We're committed to investing in the teams and technology to make sure they get it," the post concluded.