YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#51

Post by DanBC » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 7:44 AM UTC

point78 wrote: post #25

14 wrote: post #2

I for one am glad at this though I am sure the fine could have been exponentially larger. The fact that YouTube can go here and say their platform is only intended for 13 year olds and up is a joke. Their are thousands of shows targeted directly at my kids. I can even clearly hear one video my kid likes to watch starts out with saying “look kids” so tell me how that is not directed at kids. I use an adblocker but whe…

Cartoon nursery rhymes directed at as low as even 1 year olds will sometimes have ads popup for a tv show containing drugs and guns. Completely inappropriate! EVERYTHING that deals with children whether directly or indirectly is strictly regulated, and rightly so. Television programming as an example, for 70 years only permits certain ads to be displayed on children's shows. YouTube should be regulated by the FCC in…

Yes.

I've complained to the UK regulator about gambling ads placed in children's content and they are paying attention.

They say it's hard because YouTube forbids (because COPPA) anyone under 13 from having an account, which means those children use their parent's accounts, and so the demographics used by the advertisers are skewed.

However, they did take action against every single gambling company I complained about because the ads were placed against children's content.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#52

Post by DanBC » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 7:51 AM UTC

techntoke wrote: post #28

cududa wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why in the hell are you being downvoted for saying YouTube targets children?

Because children have these things called parents, that are allowing unrestricted access to a platform that they failed to read and follow the terms and conditions of. There is also a YouTube kids app, specifically geared towards helping filter child-appropriate content and advertising policies. I'm personally no fan of YouTube myself, as it constantly recommends channels and videos that I have no interest in and tha…

Youtube Kids doesn't work. It doesn't have the content that children want to watch, and it includes content that is not suitable for children.

Other organisations manage to provide ad-supported video content with very few problems. You can sit a child down in front of UK Channel 4 or ITV children's content and know that the ads won't be for alcohol or gambling or horror films, and you'll know the video will be age appropriate.

There are content creators on Youtube who target children. There are children who want to watch that content. There are parents who'll allow their children to watch the content. All we need now is for Youtube to not place horror film ads in that content, and not to start recommending videos to the child where people are yelling "DIE YOU FUCKING $racialslur".

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#53

Post by _hardwaregeek » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 7:55 AM UTC

This is literally a Silicon Valley plotline. Right down to COPPA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5QUZMNLT3M

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#54

Post by theobeers » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 7:59 AM UTC

dgzl wrote: post #46

To be honest, I see quite a lot of inappropriate content on YouTube's tending section pretty often. This can't have a net zero effect on youth.

Yeah. I haven’t found any way of using YouTube that I would consider safe for children. The problems are at a fundamental level.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#55

Post by imihai1988 » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:27 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #8

avocado4 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As I understand it, YouTube remains unprofitable to this date. Source?

Nothing recent, but Google does not disclose figures from YouTube. https://www.wsj.com/articles/viewers-dont-add-up-to-profit-f... https://www.google.com/amp/s/fortune.com/2016/10/18/youtube-... (not sure how to un-ampify this)

Tangential, you need to click the (i) and then click the actual url ( although they didn't actually mark it as a hyperlink). Amp is getting more and more frustrating w/ each iteration.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#56

Post by mav3rick » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:34 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #40

mav3rick wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah right. The competition is doing so well. Try running a video hosting service within the frameworks of the law. It's still the most popular service by a longshot. Classic HN being delusional again.

Please don't break the site guidelines by snarking and calling names. Posturing above the rest of the community isn't helpful either. If you're posting here, you're as much "HN" as anyone. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Acknowledged.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#57

Post by mav3rick » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:43 AM UTC

ryanjshaw wrote: post #47

dmix wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there a YouTube kids version? I'm not a parent so I've never used it and I've been curious since I also see that Netflix had a cordoned off sections for kids too. I'm not sure if these are sufficient content and feature wise? Also is there any parental consent thing going on here as well with how YouTube words it? I remember seeing plenty of adult ads as a kid watching TV at night time watching with my parents.…

There is but it is not free from very disturbing issues (search for 'elsagate'). Also YouTube Kids has no quality controls. It uses more bandwidth, due to our hires tablet display I guess, than any other device in our household. Very annoying when on capped LTE on a trip.

You can set video quality to a lower res.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#58

Post by mav3rick » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:44 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #6

mav3rick wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah right. The competition is doing so well. Try running a video hosting service within the frameworks of the law. It's still the most popular service by a longshot. Classic HN being delusional again.

Reddit, Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Twitch Edit: Facebook, Twitter

Others have clarified how those products are different and not even close to YouTube.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#59

Post by DanBC » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:52 AM UTC

ekianjo wrote: post #9

echelon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit, Netflix, HBO, Disney+, Twitch Edit: Facebook, Twitter

You do realise that Disney, HBO and Netflix are one-way distributors right? They don't even belong in that list.

We're talking about monetised, profitable, video content aimed at children.

These other companies can manage it.

YouTube can't, but importantly YouTube wants it both ways - they want to include content that targets children without providing any of the protection that parents expect.

And that expectation isn't unreasonable. We don't want parents who helicopter every waking hour of their children's lives, we want to give parents some freedoms to allow their children to explore and grow.

Re: YouTube Said to Be Fined Up to $200M for Children’s Privacy Violations

#60

Post by izacus » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 8:55 AM UTC

point78 wrote: post #25

14 wrote: post #2

I for one am glad at this though I am sure the fine could have been exponentially larger. The fact that YouTube can go here and say their platform is only intended for 13 year olds and up is a joke. Their are thousands of shows targeted directly at my kids. I can even clearly hear one video my kid likes to watch starts out with saying “look kids” so tell me how that is not directed at kids. I use an adblocker but whe…

Cartoon nursery rhymes directed at as low as even 1 year olds will sometimes have ads popup for a tv show containing drugs and guns. Completely inappropriate! EVERYTHING that deals with children whether directly or indirectly is strictly regulated, and rightly so. Television programming as an example, for 70 years only permits certain ads to be displayed on children's shows. YouTube should be regulated by the FCC in…

> Cartoon nursery rhymes directed at as low as even 1 year olds will sometimes have ads popup for a tv show containing drugs and guns. Completely inappropriate!

Does that still happen if you actually pay for the service via Prermium subscription? Or only if you want to use it completely free and paying nothing?