That's the question I'd ask to the Federal Trade Commission. I've been doing YouTube for over eight years, almost seven with the current account I have. I'm all for wanting to make sure kids get protected via the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). But with Google and YouTube paying 170 million in damages because of personalized ads and a couple other things back in September, this is a pure overreaction and I'm not sure if people are going to risk using the site to make videos.
At the very least, you can voice your opinion to the FTC about it. But the explanations that are given out are either very vague or so broad that I can't make heads or tails of the whole thing. I don't use ads unless a company puts content ID on a video. But people will lose money. And the FTC and YouTube's machine to judge what could be for kids is a big danger. Potentially fines will go for over 42 thousand dollars, which is overkill and could hurt very small channels. Big channels are hurt, but aren't in danger... yet. I wonder about the thousands of dead channels because most won't know about the issues and they will have no idea that they could be fined six figures or more.
I do video game videos, but not stuff like Fortnite and Minecraft. Are games from Crash Bandicoot, Home Alone, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Chex Quest, and various sports games going to be considered made for kids? Those examples are what I've uploaded since 2013. It's a hobby to me. But I've also done adult games like Medal of Honor, Doom, and GTA games. They could label old NES, Genesis, SNES, and PlayStation games as being made for kids. And what I dread also is that regardless of age, they are going to ignore adults and teens and say they are below 13 years old watching a Sonic Genesis game or an NFL video game.
People are not stupid. They know how bad this situation is. This is what happened with the SOPA bill back in 2012. When a government intervenes, the Internet takes action. What's happening now is a bit different, but that doesn't mean people are not going to be mad. Unless changes are made to alter the new propositions before the start 2020, you could be saying goodbye to a lot of channels and a lot of viewers because of the vagueness and broad terms. One thing that is bothersome is parents aren't always keeping eye on what their kids do.
I feel many parents don't care what their kids watch. I feel like that's been the case for a very long time. YouTube has an app for kids. No ads, no bullshit. I don't know if any of this will affect me, but I'm not taking any chances. The FTC wants to expand on what COPPA does, and it could make many quit. This is what I think the FTC should do.
1. Explain what is kid friendly. Leaving it vague and broad will leave creators confused and worry about what they can make.
2. Understand that because it's colorful or has cartoon characters, it doesn't mean creators are always targeting kids. Just because people play the original Super Mario Bros. on NES doesn't mean kids are searching for it exclusively.
3. Drop the 42 thousand fine. Pure overkill. Go the suspension way with three strikes. One that lasts a week, two weeks, and the last one being a month. Making it a money thing will make things way worse.
4. Don't play babysitter. The FTC has no clue of what they are doing. Let parents do their jobs and police the use of content their kids watch. Intervening as it is right now will hurt a lot more than they realize.
That's my long winded thoughts. There's a petition on Change.org and you can express your thoughts to the FTC about this via regulations.gov.
https://www.change.org/p/the-federal-trade-commission-youtubers-and-viewers-unite-9045ee7f-f6f0-460e-b088-3429209dd7c6?recruiter=1015502725&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition
https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FTC-2019-0054-0001
Protecting kids is necessary, but this is not the way it should be done.
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