YouTube’s FTC-Mandated Rules for Kids Content Infuriate Creators

tokkun · Nov 19, 2019

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
Well you read this story wrong. Yeah you should feel sympathy for people who just want to make videos but have the risk of going bankrupt for life because of the FTC because of Youtube's mistake. People could literally go bankrupt or have their entire livelihood ruined because of this. This is not a good thing. $42,000 per video. Do you realize how much money that is? This is all youtube's fault and content creators have to deal with their consequences.

The thing is that the legal code is full of stuff like this. Here are the federal guidelines for obscene material:

Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion);

Whether the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, finds that the matter depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way (i.e., ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or sado-masochistic sexual abuse); and

Whether a reasonable person finds that the matter, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

By the letter of the law, pretty much any pornography could fall under these guidelines. Really almost anything that contains any sexual reference could be, due to the language like "average person" or "reasonable person" or "community standards". The penalty for this is not just fines, but up to 5 years in prison per offense. So in theory you could spend the rest of your life in prison for it.

Of course, that doesn't actually happen in practice. So maybe we should see how this is actually enforced before going straight to the assumption that innocent people are going to be bankrupted.

Deleted member 50454 · Nov 19, 2019

blazinglazers said:
It's not just YouTube's fault, it's the fault of content creators as well.

And lazy parenting.

blazinglazers · Nov 19, 2019

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
They can have these regulations without potentially damaging millions of innocent lives.

Your concern is understandable, but also seems misplaced. YouTube and its creators have failed time and again to tackle the rampant child exploitation on the platform. The gov has to step in. Legit content creators can and will adapt.

Deleted member 23212 · Nov 19, 2019

How would this effect someone like me who has no ads and no sponsors? I never made my videos specifically for children but some may be considered as such.

Zelenogorsk · Nov 19, 2019

gonna start putting (GONE SEXUAL) in my titles so people know my vids aren't kid friendly

Syriel · Nov 19, 2019

Zed said:
This sounds like a massive 1st Amendment violation. This is not a situation where there is physically limited channel space like over the air TV.

chezzymann said:
Adapt? It's censorship in a way. Expect very few Nintendo focused channels. Or channels focused on anime or cartoons. Or channels focused on any collectable. You can't adapt. You can't change your style to be more "adult", it's the subject matter that's the issue. You can't focus on these things if you want to be a profitabe channel or interact with a community.

It is not censorship in any way. It is a longstanding law that says you cannot track kids online for profit.

Creators can still make videos. They can still publish them to YouTube. They can still monetize them via YouTube.

They just can't use any tools that track if their viewers are kids.

Content creators got away with ignoring COPPA for quite awhile. Now the ride is over. No one is getting fined or shut down at this time. The FTC is just saying that it's time to make sure the house is in order.

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
They can have these regulations without potentially damaging millions of innocent lives.

These aren't new regulations. COPPA has always been pretty uncontroversial. Yes, it puts the responsibility on the content provider and not the viewer, but when the viewers are kids you can't really put the weight of compliance on them.

This is the FTC telling a bunch of content creators who were basically playing on EZ mode that now the rules of the game apply to them as well. This rule has -zero- to do with the actual content that is produced, aside from the prohibition on tracking when content is produced for kids.

Titik said:
Wouldn't a turnaround be to simply open a YouTube like channel that isn't based in the USA? The us government cannot control what we can't and cannot see online and they cannot fine anyone that isn't based here.

If the content creator and the hosting service were wholly outside the US, yes. US law wouldn't matter to you.

But even if such a service did exist, you're assuming it wouldn't have similar local laws to follow AND that it would have enough traffic so that the default advertising rates were higher than YT's payout.

Deleted member 50454 · Nov 19, 2019

Zelenogorsk said:
gonna start putting (GONE SEXUAL) in my titles so people know my vids aren't kid friendly

Yes. I'll be getting my nob out occasionally in my videos to be on the safe side.

Deleted member 59955 · Nov 19, 2019

Oheao said:
How would this effect someone like me who has no ads and no sponsors? I never made my videos specifically for children but some may be considered as such.

It doesn't matter. If you still make videos or had any, then you have to mark them as for kids or not.

Syriel said:
It is not censorship in any way. It is a longstanding law that says you cannot track kids online for profit.

Creators can still make videos. They can still publish them to YouTube. They can still monetize them via YouTube.

They just can't use any tools that track if their viewers are kids.

Content creators got away with ignoring COPPA for quite awhile. Now the ride is over. No one is getting fined or shut down at this time. The FTC is just saying that it's time to make sure the house is in order.

These aren't new regulations. COPPA has always been pretty uncontroversial. Yes, it puts the responsibility on the content provider and not the viewer, but when the viewers are kids you can't really put the weight of compliance on them.

This is the FTC telling a bunch of content creators who were basically playing on EZ mode that now the rules of the game apply to them as well. This rule has -zero- to do with the actual content that is produced, aside from the prohibition on tracking when content is produced for kids.

If the content creator and the hosting service were wholly outside the US, yes. US law wouldn't matter to you.

But even if such a service did exist, you're assuming it wouldn't have similar local laws to follow AND that it would have enough traffic so that the default advertising rates were higher than YT's payout.

No this is the FTC giving out vague details and terms so they can fine people based on their own opinion. This is basically geared toward their advantage. All they have to do is specify what is not and what is kids content to them. But that is too hard for them apparently.

These regulations would be fine if the qualifications for what is and isn't kids content wasn't so vauge and opinion based. Like to the FTC, animations, video games, words like "cool", "free stuff", "games", are all kids content apparently. They don't even say what games or animations are for kids to them. Which is why gaming youtubers are terrified.

chezzymann · Nov 19, 2019

blazinglazers said:
Your concern is understandable, but also seems misplaced. YouTube and its creators have failed time and again to tackle the rampant child exploitation on the platform. The gov has to step in. Legit content creators can and will adapt.

And at the same time an extremely large amount of content won't be able to be shown on YouTube anymore. Think about all the things that are potentially appealing to kids. It's not just Peppa pig. Mario, Sonic, anime, collectables, maybe even star wars, etc. This is insanity. So much content won't be covered now.

Fright Zone · Nov 19, 2019

CDX said:
I'll be honest, I don't really have any sympathy for those "toy review" channels and a bunch of other stuff that obviously targets children.

However, I've seen some art channels very worried about this. The rules seem vague enough that some art styles or even some OG character designs might get classified as children's content.

I don't understand why you and others are putting toy reviews in quotation marks, I don't think you understand what these reviewers like Pixel Dan do or why they're bothered... they're reviewing adult collectible toys/action figures, like NECA and Super7 stuff for instance, and they're NOT aimed at children. They're aimed at people like me, grown men who collect action figures.
Yet they are having their reach killed and face possible fines because people assume a "toy review" video is aimed at kids.
It sucks. I don't want to see all my favourite creators be forced off of the platform.

Anth0ny · Nov 19, 2019

like always, youtube isn't being clear on what constitutes as "kids content".

just like when they started demonetizing entire channels without any prior warning for not being "family friendly".

Syriel · Nov 19, 2019

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
No this is the FTC giving out vague details and terms so they can fine people based on their own opinion. This is basically geared toward their advantage. All they have to do is specify what is not and what is kids content to them. But that is too hard for them apparently.

This is par for the course for the FTC. The language used is bog standard.

Garlador · Nov 19, 2019

(but all those white nationalist videos are still up and running, I see...)

chezzymann · Nov 19, 2019

Syriel said:
It is not censorship in any way. It is a longstanding law that says you cannot track kids online for profit.

Creators can still make videos. They can still publish them to YouTube. They can still monetize them via YouTube.

They just can't use any tools that track if their viewers are kids.

Content creators got away with ignoring COPPA for quite awhile. Now the ride is over. No one is getting fined or shut down at this time. The FTC is just saying that it's time to make sure the house is in order.

These aren't new regulations. COPPA has always been pretty uncontroversial. Yes, it puts the responsibility on the content provider and not the viewer, but when the viewers are kids you can't really put the weight of compliance on them.

This is the FTC telling a bunch of content creators who were basically playing on EZ mode that now the rules of the game apply to them as well. This rule has -zero- to do with the actual content that is produced, aside from the prohibition on tracking when content is produced for kids.

If the content creator and the hosting service were wholly outside the US, yes. US law wouldn't matter to you.

But even if such a service did exist, you're assuming it wouldn't have similar local laws to follow AND that it would have enough traffic so that the default advertising rates were higher than YT's payout.

Your wrong. The FTC is fine. COPPA is fine. YouTubes implentation is the issue. They will make up to 80% less money if their content "appeals to kids". They won't have any comments. Their videos won't show in notifications now. You can't make a sustainable channel if your video covers a mind bogglingly huge amount of subject matter. It's not just Peppa pig. It's a ridiculous amount of shit

Kcannon · Nov 19, 2019

Zed said:
This sounds like a massive 1st Amendment violation. This is not a situation where there is physically limited channel space like over the air TV.

Youtube is a private business.

SuperL · Nov 19, 2019

Yeah, YouTube is pretty much a spent force in terms of a creative platform. It's only good as a video host now, and pretty soon, won't even be good for that.

Zero315 · Nov 19, 2019

Menx64 said:
Youtube is not the government.

Kids channels on youtube are exploitative in nature. This is something long overdue. Now Youtube dont be an ass and start curating those bots not to flag anything colorful as kid content.

That's exactly what it's going to do because the wording of the law is so wide and vague. Art channels are going to be hit incredibly hard by this.

SnakeXs · Nov 19, 2019

"Hey content creators, we like, really don't wanna hire humans and also don't want to be liable. So, here you go."

lint2015 · Nov 19, 2019

The one weird rule the FTC is imposing on YouTube. Content creators hate it!

*video thumbnail*WHAT IS THIS???!!! (pointing arrow)(man with 🤔 face)*thumbnail*

Zed · Nov 19, 2019

Kcannon said:
Youtube is a private business.

Which is being compelled by the government to do things in a certain way. The government is threatening Youtube and/or the content creators with fines. The FTC may be complying with laws Congress wrote but that doesn't mean the laws comply with the 1st Amendment.

Syriel · Nov 19, 2019

chezzymann said:
Your wrong. The FTC is fine. COPPA is fine. YouTubes implentation is the issue. They will make up to 80% less money if their content "appeals to kids". They won't have any comments. Their videos won't show in notifications now. You can't make a sustainable channel if your video covers a mind bogglingly huge amount of subject matter. It's not just Peppa pig. It's a ridiculous amount of shit

There are plenty of options. Want comments? Spin up a forum. Need more ad $$$? Sell it directly, or take donations. Need to send notifications? Curate a custom email list (hello MailChimp) to notify fans. And so on. That's just a few things off the top of my head, and those are things that any creator should be planning for regardless.

You always want to control the interaction with your customers. You never willingly give that up to someone else.

YouTube is a free video host that happens to offer some advertising benefits so that you don't have to do that initial work yourself. But if you're making a living out of YouTube (versus a fun side gig), you really shouldn't be relying on YouTube to provide 100% of your revenue stream.

Kcannon · Nov 19, 2019

Zed said:
Which is being compelled by the government to do things in a certain way. The government is threatening Youtube and/or the content creators with fines. The FTC may be complying with laws Congress wrote but that doesn't mean the laws comply with the 1st Amendment.

Youtube only has itself to blame though.

Fail to self-regulate, the government will do it then. It's the same thing we're seeing with the lootbox controversy.

We have tons of laws that technically go against the 1st Amendment, but they exist to protect people from themselves.

blazinglazers · Nov 19, 2019

chezzymann said:
And at the same time an extremely large amount of content won't be able to be shown on YouTube anymore. Think about all the things that are potentially appealing to kids. It's not just Peppa pig. Mario, Sonic, anime, collectables, maybe even star wars, etc. This is insanity. So much content won't be covered now.

First of all LOL at you being more concerned with the volume of Sonic videos online than the monetization & exploitation of children.

But rest assumed, all of that content can still exist, as long as the creators business model isn't dependent on exploiting underage viewers. If your business model only works by exploiting underage viewers, then you can abide by the same regulations that everyone else does, or you can fuck off into the sun.

Slatsunus · Nov 19, 2019

Syriel said:
There are plenty of options. Want comments? Spin up a forum. Need more ad $$$? Sell it directly, or take donations. Need to send notifications? Curate a custom email list (hello MailChimp) to notify fans. And so on. That's just a few things off the top of my head, and those are things that any creator should be planning for regardless.

You always want to control the interaction with your customers. You never willingly give that up to someone else.

YouTube is a free video host that happens to offer some advertising benefits so that you don't have to do that initial work yourself. But if you're making a living out of YouTube (versus a fun side gig), you really shouldn't be relying on YouTube to provide 100% of your revenue stream.

People who do it as a fun side ginghams can't also get hit with a fine. The FTC can decide an an Animated vigors is for kids and thus not properly labeled even if it has fighting or swearing in it and pop them for 42k.

A woman's animated video talking about being abused in the workplace got autoflagged as "for kids" is it fair that she could be hit with a fine for that? Fuck no

Toxi · Nov 19, 2019

Syriel said:
Creators will adapt. The surprise isn't that this is happening, just that it took the FTC this long to demand enforcement.

blazinglazers said:
Your concern is understandable, but also seems misplaced. YouTube and its creators have failed time and again to tackle the rampant child exploitation on the platform. The gov has to step in. Legit content creators can and will adapt.

Just as an example: How is someone like JangBricks (A Lego review channel) supposed to adapt? Hell, how is any Lego-focused channel supposed to adapt?

chezzymann · Nov 19, 2019

blazinglazers said:
First of all LOL at you being more concerned with the volume of Sonic videos online than the monetization & exploitation of children.

But rest assumed, all of that content can still exist, as long as the creators business model isn't dependent on exploiting underage viewers. If your business model only works by exploiting underage viewers, then you can abide by the same regulations that everyone else does, or you can fuck off into the sun.

Even if your channel analytics show that 95% of your viewers are 30 it will still be taken down if there's a star wars collectable action figure on the screen. Random FTC guy won't know the difference. He just sees a storm trooper toy and fucks up your life.

They aren't being thorough enough about this. Actually being viewed by kids doesn't matter. It's just what some random 40 year old thinks is a kid thing.

oofouchugh · Nov 19, 2019

Ok but if I mark my content as "not for kids", but it covers a topic like games, is it not YouTubes fault if kids find that content? Or are you just not allowed to make any content for adults because someone at the FTC doesn't think adults watch cartoons and YouTube doesn't want to manage their platform?

ash32121 · Nov 19, 2019

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
Yes they will. The FTC has already confirmed that individual content creators will be liable and that they're doing a sweep of 20 million channels. They literally called content creators the fish in a barrel that is Youtube. The FTC said that they'll not only sue Google and Youtube but they'll also sue content creators.

Here.

https://twitter.com/Chadtronic/status/1196158566866010113

So they are double fucked lmao.

What a shit show.

ZackieChan · Nov 19, 2019

Zed said:
Which is being compelled by the government to do things in a certain way. The government is threatening Youtube and/or the content creators with fines. The FTC may be complying with laws Congress wrote but that doesn't mean the laws comply with the 1st Amendment.

The issue isn't with the content - it's with the taking of personal information from children RE: targeted ads. Without the ads there's no issue for the creators. But oops! That costs the creators money.
These laws were in place for a long time, it's just catching up to them. Maybe there can be a better solution where the ads are only generally targeted to children, rather than any specifics about the individual child. Probably still not the same advertising dollars, but that's the law.

I'm surprised to see so many people in this thread against this, given the super pro-privacy bent that so many users here have.

Deleted member 59955 · Nov 19, 2019

The FTC is actually being open to opinions and comments about this. They've even had meetings with some youtubers.

Send them a comment.

https://twitter.com/FTC/status/1196871025843220480

Zed · Nov 19, 2019

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
The FTC is actually being open to opinions and comments about this. They've even had meetings with some youtubers.

Send them a comment.

https://twitter.com/FTC/status/1196871025843220480

Can't wait for the FTC to ignore real comments and comply with fake comments like they did with net neutrality!

Slatsunus · Nov 19, 2019

ZackieChan said:
The issue isn't with the content - it's with the taking of personal information from children RE: targeted ads. Without the ads there's no issue for the creators. But oops! That costs the creators money.
These laws were in place for a long time, it's just catching up to them. Maybe there can be a better solution where the ads are only generally targeted to children, rather than any specifics about the individual child. Probably still not the same advertising dollars, but that's the law.

I'm surprised to see so many people in this thread against this, given the super pro-privacy bent that so many users here have.

Again. You don't have to have adds to be hit by this, channels that aren't even big enough to monetize have been autoflagged as for kids just because there animated even though said animations have dismemberment.

People need to realize that channels that have never tried to appeal to children can still get fucked if a bot or boomer at the FTC decides a thumbnail is to colorful

Uzumaki Goku · Nov 19, 2019

This is scary....

Deleted member 11413 · Nov 19, 2019

Zed said:
Which is being compelled by the government to do things in a certain way. The government is threatening Youtube and/or the content creators with fines. The FTC may be complying with laws Congress wrote but that doesn't mean the laws comply with the 1st Amendment.

This is not at all a 1st Amendment problem, because the issue has never been about the content but rather YouTube illegally collecting data on minors.

MrMephistoX · Nov 19, 2019

So is it time we talk about creators like Cookie Swirl?

I mean she's probably the biggest cause of this as the most popular unboxing Influencer and now she's doing nothing but Roblox videos 24/7.

Also the engineering family and the Yaegers can buzz off for making me feel like a terrible parent for not building obstacle courses and challenges for my kid in a backyard I don't have.

Theswweet · Nov 19, 2019

I feel fucking awful for Arlo. He's "family friendly", but he's not "for kids", and obviously he's got a big ol' target painted on his back...

legacyzero · Nov 19, 2019

My channel has nearly 5K subs and growing, that covers Video Games and it definitely isnt for children. Hell, an overwhelming majority of my views come from folks in their 20's and 30's.

So hell no, I didnt label my shit as "for children"

Deleted member 32561 · Nov 19, 2019

This is just more bullshit that will harm small time content creators while big time creators who actually make YouTube toxic for children will get a slap on the wrist at best or just swallow the pill of having to change their content.

This is not the responsible answer to protecting children from things they shouldn't see. But I guess it's too hard to ask the big personalities to stop courting nazis and having heated gamer moments. It's a band aid on perfectly fine skin while ignoring a huge gaping wound inches below.

Dyle · Nov 19, 2019

ZackieChan said:
The issue isn't with the content - it's with the taking of personal information from children RE: targeted ads. Without the ads there's no issue for the creators. But oops! That costs the creators money.
These laws were in place for a long time, it's just catching up to them. Maybe there can be a better solution where the ads are only generally targeted to children, rather than any specifics about the individual child. Probably still not the same advertising dollars, but that's the law.

I'm surprised to see so many people in this thread against this, given the super pro-privacy bent that so many users here have.

The issue is that Youtube is only getting a slap on the wrist for building a substantial part of their business around coppa violations and content creators may lose huge portions of their business not because they have to comply with coppa, but because they are being required to take the brunt of the responsibility and punishment moving forward. It's also partially because Youtube will no doubt use some of its automated systems to enforce this which have a long track record of false positives with no opportunity to appeal, likely making it impossible for content creators to make their case and navigate their way through the system towards compliance. While there are important privacy issues here and the whole platform needs to be coppa compliant, the way it is being handled will only further increase the level of control that Youtube has over its platform to the detriment of all users, as yet another example of how modern corporate regulation ends up cementing corporate power rather than significantly curtailing it

Zed said:
Can't wait for the FTC to ignore real comments and comply with fake comments like they did with net neutrality!

That was the FCC, not the FTC

Deleted member 59955 · Nov 19, 2019

legacyzero said:
My channel has nearly 5K subs and growing, that covers Video Games and it definitely isnt for children. Hell, an overwhelming majority of my views come from folks in their 20's and 30's.

So hell no, I didnt label my shit as "for children"

Well the FTC considers video games or even colorful thumbnails or characters that are attractive to kids, for children. They didn't specify what games are for kids, literally just games.

Anth0ny · Nov 19, 2019

When deciding whether or not your channel or video is made for kids, you should consider various factors, including:

Whether the video includes characters, celebrities, or toys that appeal to children, including animated characters or cartoon figures.

I guess you can say goodbye to all the Fortnite, Minecraft, Nintendo vids... shit is Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto content not considered "for kids"? Cause you're lying to yourself if you think the audience for all the big COD and GTA youtubers isn't primarily kids.

Theswweet said:
I feel fucking awful for Arlo. He's "family friendly", but he's not "for kids", and obviously he's got a big ol' target painted on his back...

He explains the situation well here:

shit's fucked

peteykirch · Nov 19, 2019

There are some people that I absolutely cannot wait to see how this destroys them.

I guess this explains why that dopey Ryan Reviews kid is branching out to awful loot box toys, snacks, candy etc. I hope his parents didn't squander all that $$$$$ they fell into.

Then you have Disney Youtubers who will most likely be destroyed by this, I'm looking at TheTimTracker and I cannot be happier to finally see his gravy train come to an end.

Masoyama · Nov 19, 2019

Good. Fine them and drive them away

ThLunarian · Nov 19, 2019

Theswweet said:
I feel fucking awful for Arlo. He's "family friendly", but he's not "for kids", and obviously he's got a big ol' target painted on his back...

Agree. If this ends up seriously impacting him then I'm going to raise my Patreon donation, and hopefully others will follow

blazinglazers · Nov 19, 2019

ZackieChan said:
I'm surprised to see so many people in this thread against this, given the super pro-privacy bent that so many users here have.

Yeah, but won't someone think of the 40 year old men who watch toy un-boxings?

Toxi said:
Just as an example: How is someone like JangBricks (A Lego review channel) supposed to adapt? Hell, how is any Lego-focused channel supposed to adapt?

You adapt by doing any of the very basic Online Business 101 things Syriel mentioned above. If your business model relies on the online targeting and exploitation of children, you need to accept responsibility like an adult human, and adapt. Despite what YouTube may have led you to believe, you don't have a right to underage advertising dollars.

legacyzero · Nov 19, 2019

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
Well the FTC considers video games or even colorful thumbnails or characters that are attractive to kids, for children. They didn't specify what games are for kids, literally just games.

Well I guess they're going to have to try and sue me.

Literally 1.9% of my 1,038,448 views are from viewers below 18. So I'd love to see them check those analytics

ZackieChan · Nov 19, 2019

Slatsunus said:
Again. You don't have to have adds to be hit by this, channels that aren't even big enough to monetize have been autoflagged as for kids just because there animated even though said animations have dismemberment.

People need to realize that channels that have never tried to appeal to children can still get fucked if a bot or boomer at the FTC decides a thumbnail is to colorful

What is the effect of the flag?
This is the way the law has worked for a long time, btw. If a creator wants to move off of YouTube they can.

Dyle said:
The issue is that Youtube is only getting a slap on the wrist for building a substantial part of their business around coppa violations and content creators may lose huge portions of their business not because they have to comply with coppa, but because they are being required to take the brunt of the responsibility and punishment moving forward.

And you're saying that the creators who built their business on targeted ads using kids personal info aren't also responsible? They were both benefiting- ignorance is no excuse.

Uzumaki Goku · Nov 19, 2019

peteykirch said:
There are some people that I absolutely cannot wait to see how this destroys them.

I guess this explains why that dopey Ryan Reviews kid is branching out to awful loot box toys, snacks, candy etc. I hope his parents didn't squander all that $$$$$ they fell into.

Then you have Disney Youtubers who will most likely be destroyed by this, I'm looking at TheTimTracker and I cannot be happier to finally see his gravy train come to an end.

why?

Xythantiops · Nov 19, 2019

peteykirch said:
There are some people that I absolutely cannot wait to see how this destroys them.

I guess this explains why that dopey Ryan Reviews kid is branching out to awful loot box toys, snacks, candy etc. I hope his parents didn't squander all that $$$$$ they fell into.

Then you have Disney Youtubers who will most likely be destroyed by this, I'm looking at TheTimTracker and I cannot be happier to finally see his gravy train come to an end.

What's your issue with Tim?

Him and his wife make theme park/roadside attraction visit videos and are completely up front if they're getting comped for the visit.

absolutbro · Nov 19, 2019

In case anyone actually cares what this stems from, this press release is only from September:

Source
Google LLC and its subsidiary YouTube, LLC will pay a record $170 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General that the YouTube video sharing service illegally collected personal information from children without their parents' consent.

>snip<

The complaint notes that the defendants knew that the YouTube platform had numerous child-directed channels. YouTube marketed itself as a top destination for kids in presentations to the makers of popular children's products and brands. For example, Google and YouTube told Mattel, maker of Barbie and Monster High toys, that "YouTube is today's leader in reaching children age 6-11 against top TV channels" and told Hasbro, which makes My Little Pony and Play-Doh, that YouTube is the "#1 website regularly visited by kids."

>snip<

In addition to the monetary penalty, the proposed settlement requires Google and YouTube to develop, implement, and maintain a system that permits channel owners to identify their child-directed content on the YouTube platform so that YouTube can ensure it is complying with COPPA. In addition, the companies must notify channel owners that their child-directed content may be subject to the COPPA Rule's obligations and provide annual training about complying with COPPA for employees who deal with YouTube channel owners.

Emphasis mine.

Full disclosure: I work for the FTC, in the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and even did some work on this case. Despite those factors, everything I say here is my personal opinion and does not in any way, shape or form represent the opinions of the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC has never levied a fine that destroyed someone's individual life. The accusation that this is just a way to destroy people is, frankly, insulting to the numerous people who work hard there.

Reverse-Flash2024 said:
This is basically geared toward their advantage. All they have to do is specify what is not and what is kids content to them. But that is too hard for them apparently.

As to this, you and I both know what you're asking here is impossible due to an insane amount of overlap in interests. Numerous companies are even COUNTING on that interest overlap as they release updated version of nostalgic IPs so that they can target both adults AND their children. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fantastic example of this. Lego is another stellar example. The actual content and targeting of the video (and ads on said videos) is what is at issue here.

legacyzero said:
Well I guess they're going to have to try and sue me.

Literally 1.9% of my 1,038,448 views are from viewers below 18. So I'd love to see them check those analytics

Here's a link to the actual settlement document, if that helps. Again I am not authorized to speak for the FTC officially, but if you look through that document and read it as I do, it is completely reasonable to think you'll be fine. Despite the falling skies, this is ultimately about protecting children's private information from being exploited by people who are not even up front about collecting that information.

YouTube’s FTC-Mandated Rules for Kids Content Infuriate Creators

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One Winged Slayer

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One Winged Slayer

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