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Youtube changes: "made for kids" (COPPA) setting & what it means for us

Discussion in 'The Sesh' started by goenKendama, Nov 13, 2019.

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  1. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    While the potential FTC part of this equation has been troubling the immediate concerns have been related to how YouTube will implement their actions in response to the requirements put on them from their FTC case. Turns out that perhaps it is YouTube causing the problems for creators after all not the FTC. It appears that the COPPA law doesn't have just 2 categories but 3 and YouTube is ignoring the middle one. The categories are "for kids," "for teens/adults," and the one YouTube is ignoring "general audience" (appeals to kids and adults). Apparently the COPPA law specifically mentioned this group omitted by YouTube. Looks like Youtube is trying to pull a "fast one" for some reason and using the FTC as the boogieman for their own ends.

     
    Nov 23, 2019
  2. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    More information coming out as lawyers have a look at the actual COPPA law. Unfortunately the concerns over both the YT restrictions and the potential FTC actions are likely going to cause many content creators to err on the side of safety or just get out of the game completely.



     
    Nov 25, 2019
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  3. Kristina

    Kristina Member

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    This is all way over my head than what I thought when I clicked on the thread, but wow! Lots of intelligent and informative posts here.
     
    Nov 27, 2019
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  4. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    It begins. . .

    Hi Goenkendama,
    Last September, we announced a series of changes that we’d be making to better protect kids and their privacy on YouTube, and to address the concerns raised to us by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
    Specifically, that all creators would be required to designate their content as made for kids or not made for kids in YouTube Studio, and that personal information from anyone watching a video designated as made for kids would be treated as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user.
    Starting today, we will no longer serve personalized ads or support features such as comments, Stories, live chat, notification bell, and others on videos designated made for kids.
    We know these changes may have significant impact on creators making kids content, so we’re committed to helping them navigate this new landscape. We continue to engage on this issue, including by participating in the FTC's open comment period. We know many creators have provided valuable feedback as well.
    If you haven’t already, please ensure you have set your channel (or individual videos) as made for kids or not, as this will ultimately determine how your content is treated on YouTube.
    Creators know their content best, and should set the designation themselves. We also use machine learning to help us identify this content, and creators can update a designation made by our systems if they believe it is incorrect. We will only override a change if abuse or error is detected.

    Thank You
    The YouTube Team
     
    Jan 6, 2020
  5. htimSxelA

    htimSxelA Moderator Staff Member

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    Was that an email? Or youtube message?
     
    Jan 6, 2020
  6. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    Email: "YouTube Creators - Important changes to YouTube starting today"
     
    Jan 7, 2020
  7. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    The new Zach Mags edit dropped on the KUSA YouTube channel yesterday. For whatever reason, probably because kendama is a 'kids toy' it has been set as a kids video, so comments are off and it cannot be added to user's playlists.
     
    Jan 18, 2020
  8. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    Alternatively, the Sweets BatB 2020 + Team Edit video dropped yesterday as well and is not flagged as a 'kids video' (though it is more of a recap than just an edit)
     
    Jan 18, 2020
  9. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    This is going to be a mess I think. While the financial penalties are of concern, YouTube's functionality and tool restrictions/limitations will be what we have to deal with first and will have the most immediate impact.
     
    Jan 18, 2020
  10. LoonDama

    LoonDama n00b

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    Currently in the works of starting a kendama YouTube channel and as a part of the gaming community I've seen lots of people talking about Coppa obviously. My plan, and I'll keep everyone posted on how it works, is to utilize lots of things not allowed in the kids classification. Things such as the use of expletives, or generally non kid-friendly content. As someone just starting a channel it's easy for me to make videos non kid-friendly and inadmissible to youtube kids by always opening a video with something like "Hey Dumb F**ks" and film in a set decorated with kendamas as well as perhaps some marijuana paraphernalia. Unfortunately, not all content, especially things like edits, can be artificially dirtied like this, and obviously a lot of our community is younger and ideally shouldn't have to see stuff like that. Also for a bigger brand making content like this is obviously a bad look. Also old content will be retroactively deemed "for kids" and be given the same treatment, meaning years of old sweets, krom, and kusa content that has been earning those companies residual revenue will become worthless. The most frustrating part is that youtube isn't only utilising this to avoid legal trouble moving forward, but because of their illegal actions for years now. The big bad wasn't aiming ads towards kids, it was illegally gathering their data, which was done to target the ads.

    TL;DR
    Youtube has been mining data from kids so now we have to swear at the kids.
     
    Jan 18, 2020
  11. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    If you are open to suggestions, I recommend uploading all your videos while dressed in slutty lingerie.
     
    Jan 18, 2020
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  12. LoonDama

    LoonDama n00b

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    Well, I guess you'll be happy to hear that I am open to suggestions.
     
    Jan 18, 2020
  13. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    YT has started putting some of our videos into the "kids" category but I can't figure out how they are determining it. Some that have kids in it aren't reclassified and some that have older kids and adults are.
     
    Jan 18, 2020
  14. KeeganS

    KeeganS DS Legend

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    There’s no way for creators to protest any vids getting flagged as for kids?
     
    Jan 19, 2020
  15. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    As with any of their "strike" actions there might be a way to protest. For us specifically I'm just not sure it's worth it since I'm not a monetized channel and we're quite small audience-wise. For bigger channels with personnel and the time to mess with the process it might be but there's no guarantee it would reverse a decision. As it is I'll have to go back through every video I've ever uploaded on all my channels and see which are effected. The reason for the inconsistency in YT's tagging is I believe it's an AI bot in addition to live personnel and both are likely in "training mode" to determine what will and won't be OK.

    What I'm really dreading is working with the JKA on all of their videos since I'm sure there will be a ton of those flagged as for kids and they are often instructional and go into playlists which are killed off when tagged as for kids.
     
    Jan 19, 2020
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  16. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    The hits just keep coming:

    COPPA Author Senator Ed Markey Introduces KIDS Act Targeting Sponsored Content, Unboxing Videos

    "Ed Markey, the Democrat senator who wrote the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), has co-introduced a new bill that, if passed, would force platforms with users under the age of 16 to radically alter the way they operate. . .

    If passed, their bill, the Kids Internet Design and Safety (KIDS) Act, would force platforms to disable core features such as video autoplay, likes or upvotes, push notifications, and any feature that rewards young users with “badges or other visual award symbols based on elevated levels of engagement with the platform.” That last one is vague, but could potentially target YouTube’s Channel Memberships and Twitch subscriptions (which commonly reward special badges or emojis).

    The KIDS Act would also make it illegal for platforms to recommend literally any kind of branded or sponsored content to users under the age of 16. In the bill, Markey and Blumenthal specifically accuse influencer marketing of “expos[ing] children to marketing that is inherently manipulative or purposely disguised as entertainment or other information.”

    They also specifically target unboxing videos, referring to them–whether they are sponsored or not–as “host-selling.” Host-selling is a formerly popular and now outlawed children’s TV practice where an animated or live host would endorse a product during the broadcast, or characters from a show would pop up in commercials that played while it aired.
    "
     
    Mar 6, 2020
  17. htimSxelA

    htimSxelA Moderator Staff Member

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    This all just feels so inane, the plan of action of old people who heard something was bad, decided to ban it, but have absolutely no concept of how that ban will play out.

    Will kids be able to pretend to be adults online? Yeaaaap. Thats easy, and if you make it hard, they'll still figure out how to do it. If someone restricted me from content, I would most definitely work to get past that restriction. There are a million ways to do so, and more will be invented if the need arises.

    And thats coming from someone (me) that generally finds the current state of internet ad-tech to be absolutely terrible. I'd happily watch all of that burn down, but further ruining the UX of the internet in the name of 'saving kids' is just dumb.
     
    Mar 11, 2020
  18. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    I'm not entirely certain it has a lot to do with age but more with the society that put them and keep them in office. There are a fair number of questionable proposals coming out of younger politicians as well. It seems that any idea/plan that has "for the children" appended to it becomes sacrosanct. It has become the "human shield" of nearly any idea put forth. Say it's for the kids and it's instantly unassailable because to go against it means you hate children and nobody can defend against that.

    The older in office likely have crews of people feeding them info and they are the spokesperson for those ideas. They may have general ideas but it's their staff who put things together. The younger politicians don't have the wherewithal to be supported with that kind of staff or the experience and knowledge necessarily to craft workable solutions. Unfortunately while it's easy to complain about any given politician it's the people who put them there who could really use an adjustment of thought and priorities. Many have been swayed by the offers of "free" stuff offered by people wanting to get into or stay in power, others have been convinced that the government knows best and want to be taken care of. Sadly many in office seem to believe that they "know better" than those over whom they govern forgetting that it was those same people who were "smart enough" to put them in office in the first place.

    Until we change as a society we will get the representation/politicians/ideas we deserve. It may sound strange but that's one of the reasons I like to teach the JKA system (Kendama-dō (けん玉道)). I really believe that their efforts to create not just a good player but a better person leaks out into society through these people and helps make it a better place. :)
     
    Mar 11, 2020
  19. goenKendama

    goenKendama Administrator Staff Member

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    They are back at it again. Things are likely going to get much worse for many content creators.

    YouTube's version:


    Content creator's view:
     
    Sep 24, 2020