Complying with COPPA Laws regarding kids under the age of 13 Y/O watching YouTube

[JamesAdam]

. Important Update for all creators: Complying with COPPA

  COPPA and YouTube: Answering your top questions

I would suggest getting business insurance and legal advice for all you tube content creators.
Complying with COPPA Laws regarding kids under the age of 13 years old watching YouTube on family devices that allow content for the kids to access illegally.

This fine of Up To $42,000.00 per video for non compliance goes into effect on January 1st 2020.

The video from Google I watched said that if you mark your videos okay for kids, you lose 90% of your income and they don't include targeted ads… among others.

 

[maki2]

How many of the youtube channels created by nomadic dwellers would be considered to have been made specifically for watching by children who are cruising the internet on their own with a device that has restrictions on it limiting what they can watch on youtube?

Why would anyone want to mark their youtube channel that is featuring adults traveling in an RV doing adult things as content made specifically for children? Common sense says they would not do so even though their might not be any offensive material in the video and it is all ages suitable. But the point is that is would not have been created just for children to watch so therefore you would not mark it as made for children.

I suppose there is some minor risk of it getting marked as such by a software program from youtube which is scanning all the content to identify which videos that were previously posted as being made for kids when it was not actually a kids video. That would be the situation you would need to protect yourself from. But that is easy enough to deal with, it only takes a couple of seconds to mark your whole channel as not made for kids. Then every video you post on it will thereafter be marked as not for kids with no further effort needed.

 

[crofter]

Sounds like creators of content for kids under 13 are basically out of business, no cookies no ads.  Also creators of content marked not-for-kids can't feature any of the kid-like stuff; our exposure would be showing stuffed animals etc that some of us have in our vans on the youtube vans tours or you could get fined. Many PTSD survivors must return to an earlier age as part of coping, and do have these things in their living environment - stickers of cartoon characters, stuffed animals, the family dog, and even may have received a trauma teddy bear as a survivor.  ~crofter

 

[SLB_SA]

But the point is that is would not have been created just for children to watch so therefore you would not mark it as made for children.

But that is easy enough to deal with, it only takes a couple of seconds to mark your whole channel as not made for kids. Then every video you post on it will thereafter be marked as not for kids with no further effort needed.

You might watch this video by a lawyer on COPPA.  The lawyer suggests that fines of $42K per video are possible for videos labeled as "not for children" which are found (by the FTC) to be directed at children.

 

[crofter]

A Marine survivor of Tarawa in our family had those stickers on all his cabinets. Every time he opened a cabinet door, he had a reason to smile and that helped him go on living. Under these COPPA Youtube rules, you could not video his living environment without being labelled as "for kids" even though definitely not for kids and not for most adults either.   ~crofter

 

[MikeRuth]

and yet with the tap of a few keystrokes kids under 13 and over can watch porn all day SMH.
You tube needs to just back off like the Virginia governor should.
MIke R

 

[maki2]

But the real issue and the most important ones is how does one label all those video that were made for cats to watch? We do have to keep our cats safe from watching any videos that are not appropriate to them. Youtube is negligent in not protecting all the cute animals from being exploited in films or by films.

 

[wayne49]

Cats watching cats. Hour after hour.
Placing humans into trance-like states.
They're taking over.

 

[skyl4rk]

We should probably all panic.

 

[wayne49]

I would, but it seems that would be such a bother.

The ancient Egyptians thought cats were gods, and look what happened to them.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I think of all the youtube channels out there, ones about driving and living in a motor vehicle would clearly not fall under the coppa guidelines for content intended for children. Even if you use a cute animation, remember that the 10 factor test isnt a checklist, they are weighted criteria. So a cartoon avatar appearing in a video doesn't necessarily mean you are intended for kids.

If you are still worried, a preroll disclaimer like "Video not intended for audience under age of 13" couldn't hurt.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

I think of all the youtube channels out there, ones about driving and living in a motor vehicle would clearly not fall under the coppa guidelines for content intended for children.  Even if you use a cute animation, remember that the 10 factor test isnt a checklist, they are weighted  criteria.  So a cartoon avatar appearing in a video doesn't necessarily mean you are intended for kids.  Tentacles rejoice.

If you are still worried, a preroll disclaimer like "Video not intended for audience under age of 13" couldn't hurt.

 

[Firebuild]

I wish people were not so black and white about everything. Everyone on YouTube is either acting like COPPA is nothing, or they're acting like the sky is falling. Most channels are at no risk whatsoever of a fine or revenue loss. Channels that make children's or "family" content are the only ones who will be touches by this, but I believe that every YouTuber needs to sign the petition about this and send comments to the FTC in support of those channels because I consider myself to be part of a community that includes those channels, plus I am not a fan of government overreach. I have ZERO WORRIES about my channel or any of the channels I watch (with the exception maybe of a few RVing families with little ones) getting fined or losing any advertising revenue. I was pushing people to get informed about COPPA early on ( for the reasons stated - to support fellow creators and to make a statement against overreach) but now I have to really distance myself from it because there is so much utterly crazy alarmism out there. The idea that having a dog or possessing a stuffed animal is going to get you tagged and fined by the FTC is absurd.

 

[wayne49]

The content of the videos does not matter, it is the act of collecting personal information online from children under 13 years old.

https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rul...ings/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule

"COPPA imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age."

If you are just uploading videos without requiring personal information from viewers, I don't see how this could apply.

But I have only ever uploaded one, maybe two, videos back in 2016, and have never tried to monetize anything online. I am not even a babe in the woods of the business side of monetizing one's self.

I think the article in the original post was penned by a lawyer trying to drum up business through Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt, plain old, everyday FUD.