https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JzXiSkoFKw

Watch this video to understand what’s whappening, but as a general TLDR, if The Children’s online privacy protection act is inforced on Youtube, youtube content as we know it will change forever.

If you don’t have time to watch the video let me summarize it (and other videos on the topic) for you

One of the things COPPA prohibits is the use of personalized ads (Ads based on your location, age, sex, gender, interests, basically all the data that is collected through use of the internet) for children under the age of 13. For this, Youtube was fined and now they’re making changes to the way the platform works. 

One of these changes is making creators mark their content as “Meant for kids” or not. However there are a wide range of items that, on youtube’s eyes, classifies as children media. 

So basically if your video contains something that falls under any of these categories, even if its just one, and a minor thing, youtube can flag it as kids video and apply the new restrictions to this video or even your channel as a whole. And if youtube’s automated system finds any of these things in a video NOT catered for children, it can penalize you both by applying these restrictions anyways, striking you, or fining you for breaking the law

This is a snippet of a complaint made to be submitted to COPPAS’ feedback page, since they saw how problematic this act and laws can be. The whole complaint was written by a mexican youtube channel called Alfrely, and it reads:

YouTube viewers and creators petition the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to clarify and reconsider the new Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA Rule) regulations on YouTube creators. Shutting off personalized ads on creators’ content will cause more harm than good, especially for children. Quality family-friendly content will shrink, while more mature content will grow — yet kids will still be watching.   The FTC should not expand COPPA regulations for content creators. Broadening the definition of “child-directed” to include “child-attractive” would force many more creators to turn off personalized ads. As a result, even more quality content will dry up, and more mature and extreme content will fill the platform. The free YouTube Kids app is a better solution than regulation targeting family-friendly creators. YouTube Kids removes privacy concerns around personalized ads. Parents buy devices and allow their children to watch YouTube Main. Many parents prefer to use YouTube Main because it has more features and less barriers. Creators should not be punished when parents choose not to use YouTube Kids. COPPA is about putting parents in control of protecting their children’s personal information online. The FTC should not use COPPA to remove parents from the process in regulating content and online advertising. While large corporations will survive these changes, small business creators face terminating employees, changing their business model, or shutting down production altogether. These regulations will particularly hurt young underserved audiences who participate in YouTube communities on topics like special needs, faith, and minority groups. Limiting quality free content for kids expands the digital divide. Turning off personalized ads on kids’ content also encourages increased product placement and brand deals within kids’ content. Creators face COPPA fines up to $42,530 per video, yet the regulation and definition of “child-directed” is vague. The FTC needs to provide creators with enforcement clarity.  We ask the FTC to: 1. Provide an enforcement statement for creators 2. Clarify the definition of “child-directed,” and not expand it to cover “child-attractive” content  3. Delay enforcement against creators until the FTC concludes its review of COPPA 4. Allow parents to use YouTube Kids or YouTube Main, without forcing creators to turn off personalized ads when parents choose to use YouTube Main 

Now onto another point:

The woman from the video replies

“We will start limiting the data we collect from ‘Made for kids content’ to comply with the law.”

The changes that will be applied to these videos are:

Comments

Personalized ads

Info cards

End screens

Stories

Community tab

Notification bell

Ability to “Save to watch later” or add to playlists, just to name the ones listed.

You basically get stripped of everything that makes youtube, youtube.

This change basically encourages content creators that live off the platform to create content that DOESN’T cater to children, creating more mature content that is already frowned upon on youtube and by advertisers, and will inevitaly make kids continue to consume media that is not for them

Not to mention that things like cartoons and videogames will be among the things that people won’t talk about.

Big corporations will always find a way to make this work, and the people who depend on youtube for a living may also find a way to make this work, but at the end of the day, it will ruin the careers and possibly the lives of many many creators, maybe even creators that you enjoy.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS. THE MORE PEOPLE SUBMITTING FEEDBACK TO THE FTC, THE MORE CHANCES TO SAVE THIS WE HAVE. DON’T SLEEP ON THIS.

Guys, if any of you have a YouTube channel, you are at risk of being fucked over by COPPA no matter what. Please check your videos and private them OR mark them appropriately as “made for kids” or “not made for kids.” If you do not, the FTC could see and you could be fined $40,000. If you mark them as “not made for kids” your videos will basically become private and unwatchable.

I have decided to start spreading the word. This is serious and it is bullshit. We are ALL paying for YouTube’s major fuck up when they didn’t stop collecting data from KIDS and parents who have been irresponsible with watching what their kids see.

SPREAD. THE WORD. THIS IS BAD.

Just over a year ago the great nsfw algorithm attacked and shortly afterwards tumblr was sold for less than a fucking fish (im serious...) let that be a lesson everyone , and now COPPA is coming and suddenly history seems to be repeating itself in a similar way (censorship/disabling comments and ThInK oF tHe KiDs On A nOt FoR kIdS sItE). Money triumphs decency and logic apparently, gotta get those against the rules ad money right? Funny enough i was gonna post this ON the anniversary but wouldnt you know i dont use tumblr much nowadays when i used to be on almost daily. Why bother when years of work can be largely undone in a day?

Not all flashy cartoon content are especially aimed for kids.

Any YouTube channel or video that sets their videos as kid-friendly will be de-monetized, comments turned off, and will not be recommended or shown in ‘watch later’ or search. Anything that is mislabeled can be fined up to $42,000. This *kills* content creators.

Adult channels will also not show up in recommended or searches nearly as much. This also cuts down on their revenue.

Just do me a favor and take a hot second to either sign this petition

http://chng.it/DKfKTQmjL9

Or submit a comment to the FTC

https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FTC-2019-0054-0001

Thx!

This is a very important matter that needs more attention. Creators could lose their livelihoods and be sued for nothing but their thumbnails appealing to children. "What does this mean?" you ask. It means no more cartoon reviews. No more toys even appearing for a minute or two in a video. No pastel colors for Christ sake. This will apply to all of America if the coppa law takes affect as well as to all the non Americans that use websites accessible to the U.S. Not just YouTube is at stake here. It's online entertainment as a whole. Thank you for your time and if you would please sign this petition to try and stop this coppa.

https://www.change.org/p/youtubers-and-viewers-unite-against-ftc-regulation