YouTube CEO Neal Mohan Reveals He Limits His Children's Social Media Use: 'Tend To Be Strict'

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, recently named TIME's 2025 CEO of the Year, has revealed he and his wife, Hema Mohan, restrict their three children's media platform use. Citing the negative effects of excessive online exposure on young children, the 52-year-old executive confirmed in an interview that their children's time on platforms is controlled and restricted.

"We do limit their time on YouTube and other platforms and other forms of media. On weekdays we tend to be more strict, on weekends we tend to be less so. We're not perfect by any stretch," said Mohan.

Mohan added that he feels a "paramount responsibility" to young people and giving parents greater control over how their kids use the platform. He added that his goal was to "make it easy" for parents to manage their children's YouTube use in a way that is suitable for their household.

The YouTube chief's statement comes in the backdrop of Australia becoming the world's first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube and Meta's Instagram and Facebook.

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Who Is Neal Mohan?

Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1973, Mohan's Tamil parents moved to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh during his formative years. Mohan and his two brothers eventually returned to the United States for higher education, where he earned his undergraduate degree and MBA from Stanford University.

Mohan started his career in consulting before joining the digital advertising startup NetGravity, which was later acquired by DoubleClick. He stayed with DoubleClick and helped lead its $3.1 billion sale to Google in 2007.

The DoubleClick deal brought Mohan into close contact with Susan Wojcicki, who would later become YouTube CEO. She recruited him to YouTube and worked closely with him for years.

Wojcicki told Mohan about the cancer diagnosis that led to her death in August 2024. Mohan took on many of her responsibilities during her treatment and succeeded her as CEO in 2023.