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YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

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Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#41

Post by burfog »

oceanghost wrote: post #8

I'd like to make a point here that isn't coming up enough in this conversation. GOOGLE knowingly tracked children, marketed towards them, but somehow the FTC allowed them to transfer liability to their creators. No creator has ever tracked children, and yet, they are liable for Google's actions? What options am I left here? I can't make content for children of even talk about anything that might appeal to a child; I…

There are options left. You can make videos about:

retirement planning, exercises for pregnant ladies, choosing a wedding cake, using the GI bill, hair transplants, adjusting to menopause, wisdom teeth removal

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#42

Post by creato »

swiley wrote: post #15
hackerbabz wrote: post #4

Can borderline channels just say “fuck” at some point in the middle of the video.

I was under the impression no one is supposed to be swearing according to the TOS (at least for minimized channels.) The whole social dynamic here is IMO pretty confusing. Google is kind of an ass to the content creators but they don’t leave. Everyone says it’s about discoverability but video podcasts are discoverable, nicer to creators and literally push your content to your subscribers devices. Not to mention most…

> Google is kind of an ass to the content creators but they don’t leave.

> I think it’s more of a sort of digital Stockholm syndrome, kind of like how MacOS users enjoy working around defects youtubers enjoy dodging censorship.

I think it's more that the issues here are blown ridiculously out of proportion and show an obnoxious level of entitlement to advertiser dollars. Calling it censorship is a good example. Everything beyond the basic ability to upload videos and share links (getting recommended, getting advertiser money, etc.) is something that prior to youtube would require serious negotiation with publishers and lawyers. Small time creators never even had a seat at that table.

The reason creators don't leave is because it's beggars trying to choose and that doesn't work.

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#43

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

Stratoscope wrote: post #16
robbrown451 wrote: post #3

I'm really not fond of rules that force you to make black and white decisions on things that are inherently in shades of gray. I watch a lot of stuff with my 5 year old daughter -- whether on YouTube or elsewhere -- than we both seem to equally enjoy. Recent ones include Star Wars Resistance, The Mandalorian, Spirited Away, From Up on Poppy Hill, The Incredibles 2. On YouTube we watch "how it's made" videos, as well…

I got the email from YouTube a week or so ago, and it seemed clear to me that they were not asking "is your content OK for kids to watch?" They were asking "is your content directed toward kids?" The FTC page confirms that and gives some examples. To pull an example from memory, I used to watch Blue's Clues with my kids when they were little. Even though I also enjoyed the humor and creativity of the show, and the ex…

On one hand, yes, that's definitely what the FTC is trying to say. In their complaint against Youtube, all of the channels are completely without a doubt directed towards kids in the normal sense.

But if I'm, like, a Mario speedrunner, when I read that the FTC's indica of child-targeted content include "the use of animated characters" and "enabled settings that made their content appear when users searched for the names of popular toys", I think it's reasonable to be concerned. The FTC should (but I'm hopeful they will!) clarify that "directed towards children" only applies when you're specifically trying to get kids to watch it.

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#44

Post by blondin »

robbrown451 wrote: post #3

I'm really not fond of rules that force you to make black and white decisions on things that are inherently in shades of gray. I watch a lot of stuff with my 5 year old daughter -- whether on YouTube or elsewhere -- than we both seem to equally enjoy. Recent ones include Star Wars Resistance, The Mandalorian, Spirited Away, From Up on Poppy Hill, The Incredibles 2. On YouTube we watch "how it's made" videos, as well…

you guys remember when old looney tunes and old tom & jerry were appropriate for kids programs? nowadays they are not. a few of them are now on youtube right next to the recent "appropriate" ones. so yes, that line is very blurry...

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#45

Post by [deleted] »

jacobwilliamroy wrote: post #9

How did youtube manage to convince the ftc that their practice of illegally surveilling minors is somehow the fault of youtube users? Doesn't every youtube user provide their age when they make an account? Shouldn't youtube have some kind of predicate like "if child doNotTrack"? I think google might be committing libel here. Claiming their users violate coppa when their users can't even control who google does or doe…

[deleted]

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#46

Post by robbrown451 »

Stratoscope wrote: post #16
robbrown451 wrote: post #3

I'm really not fond of rules that force you to make black and white decisions on things that are inherently in shades of gray. I watch a lot of stuff with my 5 year old daughter -- whether on YouTube or elsewhere -- than we both seem to equally enjoy. Recent ones include Star Wars Resistance, The Mandalorian, Spirited Away, From Up on Poppy Hill, The Incredibles 2. On YouTube we watch "how it's made" videos, as well…

I got the email from YouTube a week or so ago, and it seemed clear to me that they were not asking "is your content OK for kids to watch?" They were asking "is your content directed toward kids?" The FTC page confirms that and gives some examples. To pull an example from memory, I used to watch Blue's Clues with my kids when they were little. Even though I also enjoyed the humor and creativity of the show, and the ex…

I'm aware it is about "directed at" vs. "ok for".

Blues Clues is clearly "directed at kids". My point isn't that there aren't things that are black and things that are white, but that there are also things that are gray.

I tried to choose ones that are in the gray area, but if you consider the ones I listed "not directed toward children", surely there are ones whose median audience is slightly younger, that would be considered to be in that gray area.

Since you mentioned it, care to share your dog and cat videos link? :) Here's my not-directed-at-kids playlist that stars a kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6KuQYE3hDU&list=PLSz9W2tWBY...

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#48

Post by mattrp »

trevyn wrote: post #35
mattrp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really struggle with YouTube - for ex. You can’t block it because Kahn Academy uses YouTube. And quite a lot of kids content is really informative and great content. But I can’t tell you how many times we are watching and it literally spirals out of control. One second you’re watching an official frozen 2 trailer, the next you’re watching some jerk’s fan movie made of clips from the original frozen interspersed wi…

Do they still have the YouTube Kids app or whatever it is with whitelisted content?

It’s even worse. There were some articles awhile back about just how scary awful YouTube kids was...

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#49

Post by Mirioron »

hstreet wrote: post #12

I haven't done much research on this topic yet. But it's my understanding that, to sum up: 1. It's easier not to target children. 2. This is more of a nuisance for established channels, as they have to edit every video and mark whether it's directed to children or not. That's if I'm not wrong. I mean, I've mainly gotten my information from this one video so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwDrHOe43E I'm only a…

The main worry creators have is that the FTC is the final decider whether your content is for kids or not. They say that things such as animated characters and flashy graphics can put your video in the "for kids" category regardless what you indicate the video as.

Re: YouTube channel owners: Is your content directed to children?

#50

Post by mattrp »

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #39
mattrp wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really struggle with YouTube - for ex. You can’t block it because Kahn Academy uses YouTube. And quite a lot of kids content is really informative and great content. But I can’t tell you how many times we are watching and it literally spirals out of control. One second you’re watching an official frozen 2 trailer, the next you’re watching some jerk’s fan movie made of clips from the original frozen interspersed wi…

Maybe this is a bit out there as a solution, but you could set up Streama (1) and set up a directory where the videos get loaded in. Then you can allow your children to access Streama and they can watch without worry. (1) https://github.com/streamaserver/streama

interesting solution but for now just turning it off seems to be much preferred. We’ve noticed our kids engage their imaginations and are much better behaved the less time they spend online.
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