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YouTube is taking steps to crack down on gambling content. On Tuesday, the platform announced a new policy that bans creators from directing viewers to unapproved gambling websites through links, images, text, logos, or verbal mentions. According to YouTube, unapproved is defined as any site that doesnt meet local legal requirements or hasnt undergone review by YouTube or its parent company, Google. The new rules, which go into effect March 19, also include a new age restriction. Online gambling content will no longer be viewable by users who are signed out or signed in under the age of 18. YouTube has made two exceptions to the rule: content focused on online sports betting and in-person gambling. YouTube also made it clear that it may take down videos that promise guaranteed returns, regardless of whether the gambling site itself is approved. We know this update may impact creators who focus on online gambling content like casino games and applications, but we believe these changes are a necessary step in protecting our community, especially younger viewers, YouTube said in the announcement. This is just one in a number of recent actions YouTube is taking to protect younger viewers on its platform. Just last month, Google announced that it would start testing a machine learning model to estimate user ages more accurately, allowing platforms like YouTube to better tailor content to appropriate audiences. This also isnt YouTubes first pushback against gambling-related content. The company previously banned gambling ads for its masthead ad slot in 2021. However, this hasnt slowed down the flood of gambling content from creators looking to cash in on sponsorships and affiliate programs. On YouTube, videos promising to teach viewers how to cash in on election betting and sports betting rack up hundreds of thousands of views. While platforms including Twitch and X already impose some restrictions on online-gambling promotion, enforcement is far from airtight. On X, for instance, viral images often surface with watermarks from gambling company Stake, in an attempt to sidestep the platforms rules and sneak gambling promotions into the feed. In 2022, Stakes founders launched Kick, a direct competitor to Twitch, specifically designed to allow live-streamed gambling content and direct promotions for online casinos. In the wild wild west of online gambling, at least YouTube is making attempts to step up and protect young, impressionable viewers.
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E-Commerce
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links. It is unclear whether U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has long promoted anti-vaccine views, is involved in the planned CDC study or how it would be carried out. The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services were not immediately available for comment. The CDC’s move comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks the U.S. has seen in the past decade, with more than 200 cases and two deaths in Texas and New Mexico. The outbreak has been fueled by declining vaccination rates in parts of the United States where parents have been falsely persuaded that such shots do more harm than good. Kennedy, whose role includes authority over the CDC, has long sowed doubt over the safety of the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). In a cabinet meeting last week, Kennedy initially downplayed news that a school-aged child had died of measles in Texas, the first such death in a decade, calling such outbreaks ordinary and failing to mention the role of vaccination to prevent measles. Over the weekend, Kennedy published an opinion piece on Fox News that promoted the role of vaccination, but also told parents vaccination was a personal choice and urged them to consult with their physician. Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Donald Trump’s nominee for CDC director, Dr. Dave Weldon, is set for a U.S. Senate committee hearing next week. Some senators have expressed concerns over Weldon’s views on vaccines. Weldon declined to comment. Dr. Wilbur Chen, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and former member of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, said the existence of such a study, conducted by the federal government, is itself enough to raise doubts about vaccines among some in the general public. “It sends the signal that there is something there that is worth investigating, so that means there must be something going on between vaccines and autism,” Chen said. Autism diagnoses in the United States have increased significantly since 2000, intensifying public concern. Many researchers attribute the rise in diagnoses to more widespread screening and the inclusion of a broader range of behaviors to describe the condition. But some public figures have popularized the idea that vaccines are to blame, an idea stemming from a since-debunked study from British researcher Andrew Wakefield in the late 1990s that connected a rise in autism diagnoses with widespread use of the MMR shot. The causes of autism are unclear. No rigorous studies have found links between autism and vaccines or medications, or their components such as thimerosal or formaldehyde. There is widespread speculation among scientists that its neurological characteristics may develop in utero, when the fetal brain is being wired. Studies have linked autism to maternal factors in pregnancy, and some research suggests a link to birth complications and timing. Trump, in an address to Congress this week, cited the rise in autism among children. “So, we’re going to find out what it is, and theres nobody better than Bobby and all of the people that are working with you, Trump said, referring to Kennedy. The White House had no immediate comment on the planned CDC study. Kennedys anti-vaccine views have drawn concern among some Republicans. During Kennedys confirmation hearing Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, suggested that the nominee disavow any links between vaccines and autism. Kennedy denied that he was anti-vaccine, but did not acknowledge that such a link had been debunked. This week Cassidy questioned Trumps nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, over his stance on investigating a potential link between autism and childhood vaccinations. “I don’t generally believe there is a link, based on my reading of the literature,” Bhattacharya said. “But we do have a sharp rise in autism rates, and I don’t think any scientist really knows the cause of it. I would support a broad scientific agenda based on data to get an answer to that.” Dan Levine and Leah Douglas, Reuters
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E-Commerce
The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it is ending the collective bargaining agreement with the tens of thousands of frontline employees at the Transportation Security Administration, marking a major effort to dismantle union protections under the Trump administration. The TSA union called it an unprovoked attack and vowed to fight it. The department, in a statement announcing the termination, criticized the union whose staffers are responsible for keeping weapons off airplanes and protecting air travel. The department said that poor performers were being allowed to stay on the job and that the agreement was hindering the ability of the organization to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe” an assessment that faced immediate pushback from a top Democrat in Congress and the union. This action will ensure Americans will have a more effective and modernized workforces across the nations transportation networks,” the agency said in a statement. TSA is renewing its commitment to providing a quick and secure travel process for Americans. The American Federation of Government Employees is the union representing the TSA workers. The federation and the TSA’s then-administrator, David Pekoske, signed the collective bargaining agreement in May of last year. It came amid a push by Homeland Security to improve the pay for the frontline workers, whose pay has historically lagged behind that of other government employees. Pekoske has credited the pay increases, which went into effect in 2023, as helping to improve employee retention and morale, areas where TSA has had challenges. The union said in a statement that the order would strip collective bargaining rights from roughly 47,000 transportation security officers, or TSOs. Those are people responsible for staffing airports around the country and checking to make sure that hundreds of thousands of passengers a day do not carry any weapons or explosives into the secure areas of airports. The union said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump’s administration were violating the right of staffers to join a union. It also said that the reasons the Republican administration had given for the decision specifically the criticisms of union activity were completely fabricated. Instead, the union said, the decision was retaliation for its wider efforts challenging a range of decisions taken by the Trump administration that have affected federal workers. AFGE represents roughly 800,000 federal government workers in Washington, D.C., and across the country, and it has been pushing back on many of the administration’s actions such as firing probationary employees and cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. Our union has been out in front challenging this administrations unlawful actions targeting federal workers, both in the legal courts and in the court of public opinion,” the union said. Now our TSA officers are paying the price with this clearly retaliatory action. The decision to end the collective bargaining agreement comes after Trump’s administration pushed out Pekoske the day Trump was sworn into office. The TSA does not currently have an administrator or a deputy administrator. In a note to staff, acting TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said Noem made the decision to rescind officers collective bargaining rights to align with the Trump administrations vision of maximizing government productivity and efficiency and ensuring that our workforce can respond swiftly and effectively to evolving threats. By removing the constraints of collective bargaining, TSOs will be able to operate with greater flexibility and responsiveness, ensuring the highest level of security and efficiency in protecting the American public, Stahl wrote. This determination is made with the TSO in mind, ensuring employee inclusivity and restoring meritocracy to the workforce. Stahl said the agency will establish alternative procedures to address employee concerns and grievances in a fair and transparent manner. The end of the collective bargaining agreement was immediately slammed by the top Democrat on the Homeland Security committee in Congress, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, who praised the work of TSA staffers in protecting air travel. Attempting to negate their legally binding collective bargaining agreement now makes zero sense it will only reduce morale and hamper the workforce, Thompson said. Since the Biden Administration provided pay increases and a new collective bargaining contract to the workforce, TSAs attrition rates have plummeted. Thompson also criticized the Homeland Security press release, saying the department was using flat out wrong anti-union talking points. He said the real aim was diminishing the workforce so they can transform it in the mold of Project 2025. Project 2025 was the conservative governing blueprint that Trump insisted during the 2024 campaign was not part of his agenda. Project 2025 calls for immediately ending the TSA union and eventually privatizing the entire agency. The TSA was created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers smuggled knives and box cutters through security to use as weapons as they commandeered four airplanes and slammed them into the Pentagon, the World Trade Center towers and a Pennsylvania field. The TSA’s mandate when it was created in November 2001 was to prevent a similar attack in the future. Air travel since then has undergone a massive overhaul, with passengers and their luggage going through extensive screening at the airport and passenger information generally uploaded to TSA in advance of travel to facilitate screening. Increasingly, the agency has also been using facial recognition technology to scan passengers at checkpoints, leading to criticism by some members of Congress. Rebecca Santana, Associated Press Associated Press reporter Michael Sisak contributed to this report.
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