MANILA - A mother from the Philippines has claimed her daughter became suicidal allegedly after watching videos on YouTube.

The mother, who refused to be identified for her family's safety, said she decided to share her story to raise awareness.

According to the mother, she learned about her 9-year-old daughter's suicidal tendencies after she received a call from her daughter's school.

"The school called me up and showed drawings that alarmed them. Drawings after drawings of how to harm herself. Story lines of a girl who would want to kill her self," she shared.

She then said her daughter got the information from YouTube videos.

"YouTube taught her this. Roblox players tells her, go kill yourself. YouTube showed her 100 ways to kill yourself," she said.

After calling her doctor, they were advised to not allow their daughter to use any gadget.

"I called our OT (occupational therapist) and visited our behavioral doctor. They immediately referred me to a Child psychiatrist, and her advice, absolutely zero screen time," she said.

"When our kids cannot process this properly they are very prone to suicide and self harming. Please stay away from YouTube, Roblox and any online gaming. Even Minecraft can teach our kids how to drown themselves," she claimed.

When asked to comment, Youtube said it "remove(s) flagged videos that violate our policies."

YouTube's Community Guidelines prohibit content that encourage dangerous activities "that have an inherent risk of physical harm or death."

YouTube advised users to use the flagging feature to submit a content for review.

Videos with nudity or sexual content, violent or graphic content, and hateful content, among others, are subject to review and removal from the site.

GLOBAL ISSUE

Google-owned YouTube said it was also taking action to close a loophole that enabled users to share comments and links on child pornography over the video-sharing service.

The response came after a YouTube creator this week revealed what he called a "wormhole" that allowed comments and connections on child porn alongside innocuous videos.

"Any content -- including comments -- that endangers minors is abhorrent and we have clear policies prohibiting this on YouTube," a spokesman said in an email to AFP.

"We took immediate action by deleting accounts and channels, reporting illegal activity to authorities and disabling comments on tens of millions of videos that include minors. There's more to be done, and we continue to work to improve and catch abuse more quickly."

- With Agence France-Presse