YouTube Rolls Out New Rules to Protect Kids

YouTube’s new rules designed to help protect kids are now live. These new rules mean YouTubers need to mark their videos as having been made for kids. While the burden is falling on individuals, the overall effort is to ensure YouTube is complying with COPPA.

YouTube’s Problem With COPPA

For the uninitiated, COPPA stands for the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. It’s a US law that has been in place since the year 2000, and it seeks to protect children (anyone aged under 13) from having their data collected and used in various ways.

While most tech companies comply with COPPA, the FTC recently fined YouTube $170 million for violating the rules. YouTube’s main offense was using kids’ viewing histories to target ads. And as a result, YouTube has brought in new rules to comply with COPPA.

Mark YouTube Videos Made for Kids

The main aspect of the new YouTube rules is the need to mark videos are having been made for kids. For most YouTubers, this will be pretty simple, however there will be some YouTubers who find themselves walking a tightrope between for kids and for adults.

Starting today, if you’re watching content that’s made for kids, you may notice that certain features will no longer be available — these are part of the changes we announced last year to better protect kids and their privacy on YouTube. https://t.co/oZvOEACaAZ

— YouTube (@YouTube) January 6, 2020

This is important because videos made for kids will be restricted in some ways. As outlined on the YouTube Blog, YouTube will “no longer serve personalized ads on this content or support features such as comments, live chat, notification bell, stories, save to playlist”.

As for parents of under-13s, YouTube is taking the opportunity to recommend YouTube Kids. Millions of people already use YouTube Kids, but YouTube is now actively promoting the app across all made for kids content. YouTube insists it’s also improving YouTube Kids.

How to Comply With YouTube’s New Rules

If you’re a YouTuber unsure what to do about these changes, be sure to read our guide detailing how to comply with YouTube’s new COPPA rules for children. If, after reading that article, you’re still confused, we recommend contacting YouTube directly.

Read the full article: YouTube Rolls Out New Rules to Protect Kids

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