Cubing on youtube is over with COPPA

[GenTheSnail]

So... If I don't make videos for money and I don't care whether people comment on them or not, can I just mark my videos as 'for kids' and move on with my life?

That seems to be the case.

I think the big problem is that the videos are not searchable and wont be recommended to other people.


But I don't know how people will find the videos if you can't search for them.

 

[Etotheipi]

Lets just hope Youtube fixes their broken system before it takes effect.

 

[Mike Hughey]

In that case, in the words of one YouTuber, I'll just have to 'adult my videos up' and mark them as not for kids. Sure, they won't be advertiser friendly, but at least they'll be open to searches, comments and playlist addition.

Does "adulting your videos up" really protect you, or are you still liable due to using colorful images (cubes) that can attract kids? It looked to me like that might make you liable, even if you have other kid-inappropriate content.

 

[Sion]

The more I think about it, the less it seems like they are going after large creators, and the more it looks like they are specifically targeting the content farms that produce "elsagate" material.

For all of you who don't know what elsagate is, it's basically content on Youtube that is very cartoonish and seemingly directed towards children. That said, it is also unusually graphic and depicts material that is far from age appropriate (graphic depictions of surgery, relationship issues that extend all the way to affairs and paternity disputes, and even depictions of numerous types of assault.) I mind you, this is using characters that are familiar to children, such as Spiderman, Elsa, Mickey and Minnie mouse among others while lively, jumpy music that would appeal to kids plays in the background.


The new guideline, if enforced appropriately, might significantly cut down on the number of these videos due to massive cuts in monetization. That said, if enforced in a way everyone is implying, the results can and will be disastrous for the platform.

PS: If you don't know what elsagate is still, First off, I *don't* recommend watching it. However, if you still don't want to heed this warning, looking up "elsa mickey mouse spiderman" should yield results. I warn you though, it will make you sick to how people can make content like this for kids.


EDIT: I am aware youtube made an attempt to get rid of elsagate content back in August 2017, though there are still massive amounts of it on Youtube as we speak. Given that this material looks like it is targeted to children (and probably is), but is not age appropriate, this could solve a major issue on youtube in regards to kids content.

 

[EccentricSensei]

I searched up ‘elsagate’ and....yeah, I feel nauseated and disturbed.
What do the creators gain from traumatising young children....I feel sorry for those children!

 

[GAN 356 X]

I searched up ‘elsagate’ and....yeah, I feel nauseated and disturbed.
What do the creators gain from traumatising young children....I feel sorry for those children!

Ok, I won't search it up then... thanks for telling us who don't know what means so we don't have to be traumatised

 

[Iwannaganx]

I don't really know much about what's going on, I did watch like half of matpats video on it, and from my limited knowledge, it's just that YouTube has a big mouth. He goes into a lot of detail, I won't, but basically in interviews they've said things that are just bragging about how many kid watch their videos, EVEN THOUGH you aren't allowed to get a Google account if you are under 13, so that means permission, however implicit, from their parents and therefore is not in violation of COPPA.
BUT then comes yt and their big mouth bragging how many kids they get watching their vids, and COPPA has evidence to do what they've now done.

 

[GAN 356 X]

I don't really know much about what's going on, I did watch like half of matpats video on it, and from my limited knowledge, it's just that YouTube has a big mouth. He goes into a lot of detail, I won't, but basically in interviews they've said things that are just bragging about how many kid watch their videos, EVEN THOUGH you aren't allowed to get a Google account if you are under 13, so that means permission, however implicit, from their parents and therefore is not in violation of COPPA.
BUT then comes yt and their big mouth bragging how many kids they get watching their vids, and COPPA has evidence to do what they've now done.

I'm just surprised you posted something lol. but I do agree

 

[Underwatercuber]

Coppa is great

 

[EccentricSensei]

I think otherwise...

 

[Underwatercuber]

I think otherwise...

So you dislike disallowing people to collect, use and share children’s personal information? Seems legit

 

[EccentricSensei]

Hm true.
I’m on the fence because COPPA has lots of pros and cons.
The fact that it is protecting children from elsagate and likewise, like you said, is a good action, but for adults, (and cubers, hence the thread) it poses some inconvenience.
Let’s just wait till they implement it and see how it goes.

 

[ProStar]

Coppa is great

COPPA overall is a good and necessary act. It's the way YouTube is enforcing it that makes us unhappy.

 

[Mike Hughey]

As I said before, it's not YouTube's fault.

I'm not sure I completely agree with this. Clearly all the FTC cares about is whether or not the information is gathered on kids. It seems to me that YouTube could find a middle ground in terms of how they treat videos marked for kids. It seems they're still allowed to do contextualized ads, but not personalized ads. It seems almost like YouTube has adopted the policy of completely eliminating monetization, not recommending kids videos, and making them hard to search specifically to try to force the FTC to give way to complaints about the policy.

 

[xyzzy]

Saw this linked on Reddit: http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=395202#p395202

Tony Fisher has had (at least) one of his videos marked as "for kids", with seemingly no way to appeal the decision.

(I remember, once upon a time, when Google's motto was "do no evil"…)

 

[Bamboo Cuber]

So I haven't read all of these (cuz its four pages long and I'm rly tired), but here are my thoughts.
People like JR and CrazyBad will have to figure out other ways to make money because their main source of income is from their channels. The problem with COPPA is that the judgment of whether a video is kid-friendly or not is up to the FTC (or so I've been told). They have ZERO experience when it comes to managing a HUGE media platform like Youtube, and they are also very outdated in terms of law enforcement. I honestly think that when the FTC hits some channels but not others, the backlash will be enormous.
Back to Cubing, the channels that are primarily cubing will be hit very hard, as almost ALL of the videos are considered for Kids. Keep in mind that estimates place Personalised Ads make up approx. 70 - 80% of monetization. We can only hold our breath and cross our fingers for what's to come.

 

[Tony Fisher]

What I don't get is why you can be fined 40k for labeling something kids might like "not for kids" that doesn't harm anyone, its just like, in a terrible analogy of mine, if a apple seller got sued for not putting "dairy free" on his apples.

Because if you label it not for kids advertisers will be allowed to show interest based targeted ads. The new law prohibits that for "kids" since they are seen as vulnerable and impressionable. Comments would also be allowed so once again the kids would see those oh so dangerous naughty words.

 

[Tony Fisher]

1) COPPA is not a group or person. "COPPA" isn't doing anything to anyone. COPPA is the name of an American law aimed at protecting the privacy of children under 13. It has been in effect for nearly 20 years. Google and Youtube have been violating the law for a long, long time and are finally falling into line. It is a law with a valid, important purpose and not at all "stupid".

I would consider it extremely stupid. We are not talking about privacy in terms of photos, medical records, where they hide their pocket money or even their address. We are talking about their browsing habits, general location, sex and age estimations with zero serious consequences. Parents or the kids themselves worried can get 100% privacy from not going online. This nanny state law should be ditched and a simple warning put up instead. Even the ridiculous EU hasn't gone this far.......yet and they even hate the way you wash your chicken!

 

[Tabe]

Because if you label it not for kids advertisers will be allowed to show interest based targeted ads. The new law prohibits that for "kids" since they are seen as vulnerable and impressionable. Comments would also be allowed so once again the kids would see those oh so dangerous naughty words.

The issue with comments is not naughty words. The comments section is used for child trafficking and predatory behavior.

 

[TNL Cubing]

Soooooo much misunderstanding up above, so let me see if I can clear some stuff up:

1) COPPA is not a group or person. "COPPA" isn't doing anything to anyone. COPPA is the name of an American law aimed at protecting the privacy of children under 13. It has been in effect for nearly 20 years. Google and Youtube have been violating the law for a long, long time and are finally falling into line. It is a law with a valid, important purpose and not at all "stupid".

2) You will not get fined if you mark your content as "not for kids" and it ends up being for kids. If you have a cubing channel and mark it as "not for kids", you're good to go. The problem arises if you mark it "ok for kids" and then publish content that isn't OK for kids. That's where the $42,500 fines come from. Even then, the likelihood of actually getting hit with the fine is really, really small. Mostly what will happen is that Youtube, through their AI, will automatically flag you video as not for kids and that will be that.

3) The disabling of comments on videos for kids is not to protect from bullying. Well, that's maybe 1% of it. The main purpose is to stop the comment sections of videos from being used by predators seeking victims. Currently, the comment sections at Youtube are a haven for gross behavior of that nature.

4) The main effect of this law will be a reduction in ad revenue for a lot of channels. A major effect of COPPA is to make targeted advertising impossible for many demographics. This is because, before the enforcement of the COPPA law, advertisers were (illegally) using the private information of children under 13 (like browsing history, internet searches, etc) to deliver personalized ads. That won't happen anymore. So the ads displayed will be much more generic and, therefore, far less valuable. So, less ad money for channels that are monetised.

For the most part, this is going to be much ado about nothing. There will still be tons of cubing channels putting out content.

I was going to say a couple of those points too, thanks for clearing that up for everyone!

COPPA is definitely a valid law, and YouTube really has no choice but to enforce it the best they can or else they are in deep **** (pardon my french). It's a wonder how they have been violating it and selling data for so long.

Most cubing content isn't targeted specifically at children (as many of the previous replies have also said), so I think everyone just needs to take a step back and chill. Your channels with 50 subscribers aren't even monetised anyway...