New Youtube Rules for Kids' Content

[Carrehz]

Wait wait wait, hold the phone. You get fined if you list a video as "not for kids" and YouTube disagrees with you? Seriously? What the hell! Where does it say that?

The reverse, I can see that making sense, but... who the hell does it hurt if you list a "kid-friendly" video as "adults only"?????

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Wait wait wait, hold the phone. You get fined if you list a video as "not for kids" and YouTube disagrees with you? Seriously? What the hell! Where does it say that?

The reverse, I can see that making sense, but... who the hell does it hurt if you list a "kid-friendly" video as "adults only"?????

A YouTube channel I watch put out a video explaining some things about this and how scarily vague it all is. And yes creators can get fined if they mark their video as not being for kids and the FTC (not YouTube) disagrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0veLrwd9CK4

He plays a couple clips from an FTC conference about it, right in the clip played at the very start of the video, the guy talking in the conference says "not only can we sue Google and YouTube for compliance with COPPA, but also individual channel owners and content creators". A later clip shown in the video: "Content creators are always at risk of being fined, and channel owners, because there we have a situation where a website or an online service that is directed to children". Lol @ implying YouTube is directed to children. This fine in question can be up to $42,000. This is going to kill YouTube, or at least almost kill it.

[otocolobus_manul]

I don't mean to whine but oh my God can life please wait until I'm done with college to kick all my coping mechanisms out from under me

I agree with everything LadyMoondancer has said, but especially this:

The irony is that 1) Youtube is actively discouraging channels from making child-friendly content with this new policy and 2) kids are going to stick around "real Youtube" because one of the main appeals of Youtube is reading comments, leaving comments, and hoping that a channel-creator you admire will reply to your comment.  And 3) they are demonetizing a lot of people who don't even have much of a child demographic.

Especially point number 2. I know that when I was a kid I stayed away anything I viewed as "for kids" (at least, kids younger than me, Webkinz was an exception because the older kids were playing it lol). If YouTube marks something as for kids, plenty of kids are going to specifically avoid it for that reason, and are going to find ways to access the adult content no matter what. If anything, this is driving kids away from kid-friendly content because now it's explicitly marked as kid-friendly or not kid-friendly, and kids are going to automatically scroll past kid-friendly videos and zero-in on the adult ones.

Or maybe I was just a weird kid. I dunno. All I know is that if there is a solution to this problem, this isn't it.

And concerning point number 3, I've already seen people who are scared they're going to lose their jobs because of this. What a mess. What an absolute mess.

[brightberry]

I’m pretty sure THAT will backfire on the FTC.  Being able to randomly designate something as directed at kids and then fine them is a violation of free speech.  I would think that they’d have to prove intent to win in court.  Though, it could take years and a lot of money to win.   

[Strawberry Swirl]

I find Chadtronic’s video concerning this law to be very informative. In addition. I’m concerned about the numerous content creators that are like us in that their content is appreciative of things that these people are ignorantly labeling kids only. I understand before I stated that I think a platform for kids specifically made so that they can more easily find things for them and avoid inappropriate content is a good thing. And I still agree with it.

However it is not only unhelpful to force everybody who makes videos concerning cartoons, toy collecting, animation or anything else they are insisting are automatically kid friendly to label them as For Kids, it is hurtful as many times these things are the careers of the creators. Demonetizing these videos and fining the creators for not adhering to such a ridiculous viewpoint may very well force them to change to mature content only or leave the platform all together.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Oh, this is a lot more messy than I first thought. Ugh, what on earth? Everything is so ambiguous.

[caseysealia]

Why doesn't someone just make a platform solely for kid's content? So you don't mix adults and kids and make a mess like this. Of course that would have its own issues but it'd be easier to confirm what content is for kids vs. adult content.

[MJNSEIFER]

Okay... this seems almost too good to be true now, but I had a conversation with someone on twitter, who showed me a video and it turns out that we may not be in as much danger of being fined as we thought.

Basically, if we place a disclaimer like one shown in this video (which also explains the COPPA situation more), we should be okay.  Apparently, they are going after videos that are purposely trying to target kids (or fool kids into thinking the videos are for them), so if you place an appropriate disclaimer at the start of your video, you should be okay - your content will apparently do the rest.  Basically if we do this we should be safe

I honestly never expected to be reassured by a hater of my favorite generation, but a silver lining can come from literally anywhere!   

[SunbeamV]

why don't we just all start our toy reviews by taking a swig of hard liquor and shouting a string of expletives as protest? i know it seems silly but i feel like if hundreds or thousands of videos had to go to review or appeal stages because of it, they'd change their tune pretty fast because the amount of work would probably make them lose profits, and we all know corporations only speak money 

[brightberry]

Okay... this seems almost too good to be true now, but I had a conversation with someone on twitter, who showed me a video and it turns out that we may not be in as much danger of being fined as we thought.

Basically, if we place a disclaimer like one shown in this video (which also explains the COPPA situation more), we should be okay.  Apparently, they are going after videos that are purposely trying to target kids (or fool kids into thinking the videos are for them), so if you place an appropriate disclaimer at the start of your video, you should be okay - your content will apparently do the rest.  Basically if we do this we should be safe

I honestly never expected to be reassured by a hater of my favorite generation, but a silver lining can come from literally anywhere!   

Maybe the disclaimer will work.  But it seems like an easy way for someone to target kids and make the appearance of not being for kids.  It’s not like many kids under 13 are going to read it and leave.  I’m the FTC could make that argument. 

[bright rabbit 1]

Well COPPA and FTC would be in trouble if they say and put on Attack on Titan videos for example anime and video games; aimed at kids because let’s face it in Season 1 and 2 of the anime you got Titan’s eating humans, and a lot of people with limbs or parts of the body bitten off (Eren in Season 1 and Ymir in Season 2). In Season 3 part one you had humans killing humans, and in the second part of said season you had more deaths, blood, and gore, not to mention someone eating another person. Same goes with the games. Anime is rated 15 (should be18), and the games are rated 18; definitely not for kids.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwDrHOe43E

Another video on the topic, this one by an actual lawyer.

[SaraMari]

what I am getting from this is YouTube doesn't want to take responsibility for going against the law, I mean coppa  has been around for awhile, and wants to put the onus on the creators

There are differences between for kids, kid friendly and family friendly. So having this either or scenario is not going to work.

There are millions of videos that are family and kid friendly but not for kids. YouTube needs to take some responsibility, change their methods of ad delivery, and create better categorization.

Edit
theBeatlespkmnfan42 thanks for sharing that video. It really explained the situation well and shared info that a lot of people don't know about when it comes to the changes YouTube is making. Just as I thought YouTube threw it's creators under the bus during the settlement.

As the lawyer recommends if you are making for kid content your channel is basically done. They are removing notifications, ending cards, community tabs, the ability to save the videos to watch later lists etc. They might have some general ads but it won't earn enough to live off of it sounds like.

And there are 10 factors the FTC will use to determine if your videos are for kids and they are amazing vague and generic like "music in the background". A lot of people are going to get their videos marked as for kids that aren't really aimed at kids

I guess basically Youtube just wants to make YouTube an obviously adult orientated app, but theres a lot of adult orientated videos that can appeal to kids and are safe for kids. Realistically at this point if you have any videos that are vaguely kid friendly (family activities, kawaii, nerdy, crafting, etc) you'll have some big changes. like if you have colorful or cute title cards you better make them darker and more generic, take out background music, change your set or backdrop to be more dark, office like or Spartan etc

[Carrehz]

Can someone give me a tl;dr rundown on the fine thing, please? I tried watching the videos but all the lawyerspeak is kind of flying over my head Admittedly I am pretty tired right now, which probably doesn't help.

I'm still completely baffled by the notion of them fining people for marking their video as "for adults". Who does that hurt?? If it was just "if you mark this as 'for kids' and it's inappropriate, we'll go after you", I could understand it, that's fair enough (well, I suppose), but... geez. This is such a mess.

And good point SaraMari, COPPA isn't anything new - quite the opposite, in fact! It existed before YouTube, for crying out loud. What on earth are YouTube playing at...

Man, I'm not even a content creator, I just upload obscure out-of-print anime music sometimes, so folks can enjoy them without having to track down a ~20 y/o CD for one or two tracks, and I'd like it if people at least have the option to say "hey, thanks!"! Is that so wrong! Argh.

[Aflame]

nerd-e-crafter is annoyed because even if you have "characters" in the back ground of your video it can be flagged as "child appealing" and I dont know about any one else but I find it quite offensive as being  considered a child when I am not !
nerd-e-crafers video on it
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49DpBpVSEYc&t=871s )