YouTube has released new child video rules, according to
which there will be a limitation on data collected on children’s videos. This
could result in less child-friendly options on the website and give a huge blow
financially to children’s content creators.
According to The Wall Street Journal, these limits will
start from January and if YouTube video creators don’t assign if their content
is for children, they will be charged with fines from the Federal Trade Commission.
This also means that Google will restrict personalized ads
from Google data and won’t show pop-ups on children's videos on the platform.
However, contextual ads based on the content of videos will be shown they won’t
make creators as much money as targeted ads.
These changes have been made after there were allegations
that YouTube tracks online activities of children hence breaking 1998
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Although YouTube did not admit to this act, it had to pay
$170 million in fine.
A content creator on the platform Jeremy Johnston whose the channel has over 2 million subscribers says that this “throws creators under
the bus."
FTC says that it is aware of the issues on both sides but it
aims "to strengthen the rule to make it work better for children and
parents."
YouTube does have a separate app for children called YouTube
Kids that do not support personalized ads but it isn’t that popular. YouTube
although it has highlighted that the site is not for children under 13 years of
age, it is still widely used by kids.
