YouTube is making changes on how they collect and use data on kids’ content on YouTube.com. These changes will address concerns raised by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding their compliance under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
In the coming months
- Content creators/users will be required to state if their content is made for kids. YouTube will use machine learning to help identify videos that clearly target young audiences. At a high level, content that is made for kids has an emphasis on Children or children’s characters, Popular children’s programming or animated characters, play-acting, or stories using children’s toys, Child protagonists engaging in common natural play patterns such as play-acting and/or imaginative play popular children’s songs, stories or poems.
- Penalties might apply to a creator who attempts to avoid categorizing their content correctly,
- YouTube will continue to serve non-personalized ads (ads that are shown based on context rather than on user data) on content that is made for kids.
Note that though COPPA is a US law, changes will be made on their platform globally.
For more information about COPPA, visit https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions.
