Reports of YouTube accounts suddenly being flagged for belonging to those under 18 years old have skyrocketed in the last 24 hours, with users across Reddit and other platforms complaining that they’ve been placed under “standard protections for teen accounts.” This means no access to age-restricted videos, more frequent digital well-being prompts, and a switch to non-personalized ads. It’s left many users confused and frustrated.
Age checks that didn’t come out of nowhere
We were warned, but were we ready?
Credit: Reddit
This wave of flags appears to be tied to YouTube’s recently expanded AI-driven age-detection system, which launched in the US earlier this summer. The system uses a “variety of signals” to infer whether a user might be under 18, and YouTube has stressed that watching family-friendly content alone shouldn’t trigger the change. Still, the sheer number of adult users reporting issues in the last day suggests the rollout is being more aggressive than before, even as Google also works to integrate it into its search engine.
Importantly, this is not the same thing as Restricted Mode, which is a separate, opt-in feature that hides potentially mature content. What users are seeing now is an account-wide classification change, one that can’t be disabled without proof of age through email, ID, credit card, or, in some cases, a selfie.
Reactions online have been mixed. Some insist their accounts are decades old and should obviously be treated as belonging to an adult. Others are crying foul over the idea of handing over personal data just to watch content they’ve had access to for years. And then there’s the uncomfortable possibility that some of these people might not actually be adults. Maybe Reddit is just full of kids joking about using fake IDs, VPNs, or even stock photos of celebrities to bypass the system.
The timing of this surge isn’t accidental. Regulators have been increasingly strict about how online platforms handle underage users, with fines looming for companies that fail to separate children from adults online. YouTube clearly doesn’t want a repeat of its 2019 $170 million settlement with the FTC, but its new approach risks frustrating legitimate users, especially those unwilling to verify their age.
If you’ve been hit with the “for kids” flag, the only real way to restore normal access is to verify your age through Google’s official process. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in teen mode, whether you like it or not.
