So last week YouTube released their “Complying with COPPA” video, and the creator community seems to be in a bit of a panic.
And with panic, comes misinformation. Let me see if I can clear some of it up.
(Long thread incoming)
And with panic, comes misinformation. Let me see if I can clear some of it up.
(Long thread incoming)
YouTube is not changing because of some new law passing. (COPPA has been around for 20+ years and the current version of the rule is about 10 years old) but because YouTube made an agreement with the FTC to avoid going to court. ftc.gov/system/files/d…
YouTube agreed to pay $170 million and make some changes to its platform: they had to change their privacy policy, train employees, and provide reports for 10 years to show ongoing compliance.
BUT, there is one requirement in the settlement that directly affects channel owners: YouTube has to implement a new “Made for Kids” flag for videos “directed to children” or it will be in violation of the settlement.
This means that no amount of comments to the FTC are going to reverse this change. But why does the FTC want YouTube to flag in the first place?
#COPPA is designed to limit how companies can collect data from children w/o parental consent. But it doesn’t require age-gating the internet; in order to not limit ppl over 13 from using the internet, COPPA primarily covers online services/websites/apps “directed to children.”
OR, like in the case of YouTube, if a website has actual knowledge that children are using their service.
If a site is directed to children or has actual knowledge of children using the site, there can be no targeted or personalized ads (unless parents consent).
Those sites also have to provide parents with mechanisms to request access or deletion of their child’s data, make certain assurances in their privacy policies, as well as a whole bunch of other responsibilities that aren’t really important to this thread.
Here’s where things get a little tricky. The FTC is conceiving of channels as their own websites and YouTube as a third party ad network that serves those sites.
The FTC has said in its FAQs that if an ad network knows one of its member sites is directed toward children, that ad network has actual knowledge under COPPA and can’t run personalized ads on that website. ftc.gov/tips-advice/bu…
The same logic is being applied here. The flagging system is designed to put YouTube on notice as to where they can and can’t run personalized ads.
Now I know what you’re thinking: So What? My channel’s about to be demonetized and I don’t even know what directed to kids means. And if I get it wrong, I’m going to be fined by the FTC.
I appreciate that defining what is child-directed is hard, and so does the FTC. While there is a whole checklist about what about child-directedness, I would use this simple question: Would a reasonable person think your content is directed to kids?
The question is not whether it is *appropriate* for kids, but *directed* to them. And that distinction is important. Will some YouTubers content fall under the “made for kids” tag? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean all family friendly or PG rated content will.
One trick I use to determine if content is child-directed: Who are you speaking to? When you create a video you have at least a vague understanding of who will be watching it. While this isn’t perfect, if your imagined audience is a child, you’re child directed.
But, if the point of settlement was to get YouTube to stop running personalized ads on kid directed channels, why are other features being removed as well? Answer: Because #COPPA is meant to stop the collection of children's data, not just the use of it.
That is why kid directed sites tend not to have open text comment fields: it’s literally a functionality designed to get kids to give you more information. So removing the ability of people to comment on videos makes sense.
However, the removal of the notification bell and the ability to create playlists is weird to me, and not necessarily required by COPPA (or the FTC settlement). 
Ostensibly, the removal of these features is because they collect or use personally identifiable information in some manner, therefore they violate #COPPA. But, there is an exception to collecting personally identifiable information called the “internal operations exception.”
This exception exists because the FTC realizes that some personal information is necessary for running a website properly - whether it is to authenticate accounts, secure the website, or provide other core services. However, the internal operations definition is not super clear.
I don’t have the technical knowledge to know why YouTube’s lawyers decided that the notification bell would violate #COPPA; but I am surprised that they didn’t think that some of these functionalities would fall under the internal operations exception.
I am also surprised they’re implementing an AI system to “check” whether creators are complying. This was explicitly *not* required in the FTC settlement - in fact, the commissioners complained about it.
As I said above, determining what is kid directed is sort-of “you know it when you see it.” Historically, AI hasn’t been great at making those kinds of decisions. So using it as a backstop seems
Now back to the FTC and those fines. Remember, their mission is to protect consumers against unfair and deceptive practices. Going after a small channels or channels where a reasonable person could disagree about the audience is not in their interest.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t flag your content, but it does mean if you make a mistake, the first action that the FTC would be likely to take is to ask you to change your flag, not hand out a fine.
So what can you do? First, keep talking to YouTube. They’re the ones who own the changes that are happening to the platform and they will be in the best position to explain why those changes are occurring. Second, comment on the FTC rulemaking. federalregister.gov/documents/2019…
Tell them exactly what data you have about your users and how that data drives your decision-making. Tell them about your income from advertisements, what control you have over the advertisements on your channel, and what you wish you knew.
And most of all, tell them you want to be a responsible player, but maybe aren’t sure how to go about doing it.
Remember, the comments you make to the FTC are highly unlikely to change what’s happening on YouTube. However, as the FTC rewrites the rule they need to hear from creators. They need to understand the business model, what data you have, and your relationship with YouTube.
Questions? Just DM me. Or respond to this thread. I’ll try to answer them.
