9 out of 10 shorts on video-sharing platform do not have age restictions, report says
While South Korea limits smoking depicted on small and big screens, government data showed Friday that such scenes are mostly available for users of all ages on YouTube.
Of the 300 YouTube shorts from last year surveyed, 271 (90.3 percent) had no age restrictions, according to Korea Health Promotion Institute data revealed by Rep. Han Zee-a of the main opposition People Power Party.
Around 90 percent of shorts have not been age-restricted in recent years: 2,654 of 3,054 in 2023 (86.8 percent), and 468 of 500 (93.6 percent) in 2024.
YouTube has a policy against harmful or dangerous content, such as content that poses an imminent risk of injury, content on weapons, and minors using vaporizers, e-cigarettes, tobacco or marijuana. It does not specifically ban videos of adults smoking if the content in question does not promote the act in any way.
In Korea, however, smoking or drinking alcohol are key criteria that determine the rating, both for TV and movies. Smoking scenes in movies are customarily blurred when aired on TV.
It does not mean a smoking scene automatically warrants a higher age restriction, as frequency and depiction are considered by the viewing committee.
The KHPI report showed that 62.5 percent of the surveyed movies for 12 and above had smoking scenes, while 82.1 percent of such scenes were found for movies meant for those 15 or older.
According to Han, the institute made three requests to the industry concerning this issue. She said the related measures often stop short at having warning phrases about the smoking scenes.
"Teenagers' frequent exposure to smoking scenes at YouTube and movies has the risk of them glamorizing such acts," Han said, urging for protective measures for teens being exposed to such content on popular platforms.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
