#retroblasting

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Narcissism, Neuroses, & Nihilism

Y'all ready for the rant of the month, well strap in, because here it comes! Apparently, due to some shady business tactics, used by certain YouTube Channels who were clearly pushing products aimed at children while pretending to be an unbiased review (the channels, I believe, where operated by the product manufacturers themselves but they paid a child presenter to host the channel and the review) Google/YouTube lost a $170,000,000 law suit to the FTC, because YouTube gathers analytic data on YouTube views, and thus illegally gathered data about minors without their parents consent and provided targeted advertisements and links (these only apply if you DO NOT use the YouTube Kids app/page, so for fucks sake, if you have kids who watch YouTube, have them use the kid friendly version!) Why am I so pissed about it? Because due to this whole issue YouTube and FTC are ganging up to start punishing any YouTube Channel that provides what they call "Child Attractive" content. So let's say you make a video about how you found your old G.I. Joe Mobile Battle Platform, or your original 1980's Barbie Dreamhouse, in your attic and how much you loved it as a kid, or how much it sucks in hind sight, if YouTube or the FTC flags your video or channel, you will no longer get Recommended to other viewers, you cannot earn ad revenue, viewers cannot leave comments, you may be banned from hosting live-streams, your video will not show up in searches... Essentially, your video is dead, and possibly your channel to. So if you've spent the last 10 years building a YouTube channel based on retro toys, comics,adult collectibles, etc. until it becomes so popular that it becomes your career, you're screwed. And it gets worse, if the FTC decides that a video/videos are in violation of the COPPA Act (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) then YOU (not YouTube, YOU the video creator) face a fine of $42,000 per video... Are they insane?! Why should you care? Well, That's a good question Skippy, I'm glad you asked... Maybe you don't have or want a YouTube Channel... Maybe you think it's a silly way for an adult to make a living (well aren't you a ray of sunshine?!) Doesn't matter, from New Years onward, if you watch a video related to toys, vintage toys, actions figures, collectibles, Barbie, dollhouses, cartoons, etc. then YouTube, and the Federal Trade Commission will assume that YOU are a CHILD!If it wasn't bad enough your parents or co-workers judging you, now the Government has decided that no adult human being could possibly like cartoons (despite the four most popular animated TV shows of the last three decades all carrying a TV-MA rating), or Toys (Except half of all Hasbro and Mattel's business coming from adult collectibles),or Video Games (come on, do I even have to say it? GTA, Fallout, Assassin's Creed, BioShock all rated M for Mature) or comics (have you even tried to read a comic book in the last two decades? It's like a soap opera with super powers)! No YOU MUST BE A CHILD! Well to that I say... FUCK YOU FTC!!! Fuck you... Now as it happens, several of my favorite YouTube Channels deal with either vintage toys and cartoons from the 1970's and 80's or collectible action figures. These channels, like RetroBlasting, Toy Paloy, Toy Galaxy, Pixel Dan, etc., do not cater to kids, and never have. Half of them wouldn't really interest anyone under 25. But they are in the cross hairs with any other channel that talks about toys, and it's ridiculous. And what's scarier is that once channels like this are purged (more then a few YouTube creators have already jumped ship) there with still be kids on YouTube. Kids in need of something to watch, and Google is still gathering data... so in 6 months, we're gonna have to go through all of this again, except this time it could be Video Game reviews and Lore videos on the chopping block (If they take down Oxhorn, so help me, I'll riot!!!) or videos about things like 'Weird stuff you never noticed in classic cartoons" or "Details Disney didn't want you to see", and channels like Dorkly, What Culture, Looper, Nerdist, etc. are gone... But the kids will still be looking for something to watch... You get me? Marvel and the Avengers, Star Wars, Star Trek, Transformers,GI JOE, He-Man, MASK, The X-Men, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, ThunderCats, Silver Hawks... pretty much anything my generation grew up with (And pretty much ANYTHING ever mentioned on an episode of Robot Chicken) is in danger of becoming a 'buzz word' that will get a content creator in trouble for talking about it! Then what are we supposed to talk about, THE FUCKING WEATHER?! Well,(and it goes without saying, but all of this only applies to folks in the US) you can tell the FTC to fix the problem instead of blindly groping for a bandaid... The FTC has asked for comments on the matter (a sign that they KNOW this ain't gonna work) so you can go here to leave a comment or suggestion https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FTC-2019-0054-0001 Check Out this RetroBlasting Video for info on what to do about it!