I just wanted to start a discussion about COPPA (Child Online Privacy Protection Act) and how its recent application to YouTube may affect the PokeTubers in our community.
BACKGROUND
For those of you unaware, the FTC has recently ruled that YouTube is in violation of its policies by allowing targeted ads and recommended videos to be presented to children, as this requires collection of personal data (viewing history) of kids. As a result, YouTube was forced to pay $170 million and now all YouTube creators are required to mark their videos as āMade for Kidsā or āNot Made for Kidsā using a set of extremely vague criteria. Essentially, any content that kids may find appealing (including all content involving animated characters, toys, or collectibles) is considered āMade for Kidsā and will lose targeted ad revenue (60-90%), will have its comments sections removed, will no longer appear in recommended videos, and will disable viewer notifications and other SEO features. To make matters worse, the FTC is able to fine creators $42,000 per video that is incorrectly marked, creating a huge liability for any PokeTuber.
The bottom-line is that any PokeTuber that relies on YouTube revenue is in very real danger come January. While I am not a heavy viewer of Pokemon YouTube videos, I do enjoy them casually and recognize what a valueable role these channels play in our community as a whole. Guys like Leonhart, who has made a career out of Pokemon and used his platform to help others and promote the hobby, come to mind, and I find it devastating. Even those who donāt rely on YouTube revenue may find it difficult to sustain making videos without the community features like comments, notifications, and recommended videos to help disseminate their content.
This was mentioned somewhere else here on e4. I spoke to Lee (LeonHart) about it and he is very concerned. This is just another example of the authorities wanting to gain power by forcing their will on all of us. All our freedoms are being slowly taken away. I say screw em and sign the petition. Hopefully thereās a way around this for those who help our great hobby.
The real issue is that the government is asserting authority over what would traditional be the role of parents. YouTube already has a YouTube Kids App which is free of advertising and data tracking; however, parents let their children watch whatever they want on regular YouTube. The FTC does not recognize this parental decision as EXPRESS CONSENT; even though the parents are clearly ok with their childrenās viewing habits if they are supplying the devices and allowing their kids access to YouTube in the first place.
Iāve felt this way ever since the helmet laws went into affect. Are helmets smart? Absolutely but I donāt need the government/big brother to tell me what to do. Honestly, the reason they do it is because they are too ignorant to do anything of real consequence so they have to create things that are easy in order to validate their existence.
This is unfortunate, as Iād hate to see some channels I enjoy subside due to these new regulations. If it has a catastrophic impact on a majority of the channels, are other platforms a viable solution to upload videos in hopes of gaining ad revenue/traffic, etc?
This is probably the only time Iāll say this with regards to politics, but youāre absolutely right Gary!
I get the whole point of protecting kids on the internet, but in classic government style this is done badly and without a full acknowledgement of the people that it will actually effect.
Not to drift away from subject too much but this reminds me of the whole āNet Neutralityā issue. At the time of the repeal, I was working for NBCUniversalā¦ we got a ābonusā in our paychecks when it got repealed since we are owned by Comcast.
I guess parenting isnāt a thing in 2019. Makes absolutely no sense why content creators have to censor their material because the Karenās of the world canāt parent their kids.
Sure there are some channels that are toxic and target children, but this reaction to that minority is an overreach. I personally probably wonāt be affected, and if I were I could just go private through patreon. But I feel for people like Leonhart who rely on the younger viewership. Jangbricks and other fantastic hobby channels are all at risk.
We still donāt know the exact parameters. I am trying to remain optimistic until January. Regardless this is a scary precedence moving forward.
If I go by my interests as a 12 year old, well, 99% of YouTube would be āMade for Kidsā.
And just you wait for the shadiest of the shady to launch huge ad-campaigns for all that ānon-targetedā traffic. This whole thing may even sort it self out.
Despite it being a United States law it affects everyone as youtube is ran from within the United states it makes everyone liable as the website has to follow the U.S law. Its why torrenting sites were ran in countries that didnāt have piracy laws.
I saw OpenBoosters video last night about it. His message was āI can get a $42k fine for a $10 ad revenue videoā. Maybe YouTube shouldnāt sell ads that are targeted at under 13 year olds instead of destroying content.
from what I read, poketubers will all get flagged since they are handling kids toys in their videos. Apparently according to the law, pokemon cards or any lego set is a kids toy, doesnāt matter if a lego set is from the 90s or if you are opening WOTC pokemon cards. So in this regard I am pretty sure that Leonhart, Unlistedleaf and others will all be affected, which will cause their ad revenue to melt away. But I am sure that they will find other income revenues. Lego youtubers for example can always present a new set and link an affiliate link in the description.
Main problem is it will prevent any new content creators emerging in the hobby. Youtube is also bringing in new terms that it can shut down any channel that it believes isnt commercially viable according to them.
We are about to see all alternative media content forms be destroyed just so government can gain more control.
Linus has a good point in his live show from last night. He points out that some people use YouTube as their personal storage/cloud storage service. Uploading ācontentā to it, but making it completely private. So it might be that Google will target certain users/accounts that have a lot of content uploaded but most (or all) set to private. I think he makes a valid point, but yeahā¦ people open 3 packs per 10min video because they know that in the long run theyāll break even while making content and having fun. These people will stop doing so, because they cannot break even any more. And not a single sane collector is buying packs to complete sets, right?
