Recently, you may have heard about how YouTube’s parent company (Google) was fined for violating laws protecting children’s privacy on the internet. This fine was assessed by the Federal Trade Commission and NY Attorney General’s office. In response, YouTube will be changing how it handles “kid content” on their platform.
Several prominent YouTube Creators who make videos that could be construed as “kid-targeted” are changing their format to avoid massive decreases in their ad revenue.
I, however, will not be changing my YouTube Channel.
Most of my videos are reviews of dolls. A lot of those dolls were originally designed for children. It seems, according to YouTube’s new guidelines, my videos will be considered “kid content”. This means I will no longer have the option of targeted (or personalized) advertising on my channel.
If I was someone who relied on ad profits from my channel to live, I would have died of starvation a long time ago.
I have always had the option to allow targeted ads turned off on my channel. So, on that score, nothing will change. (This was just my personal preference, as I find it kind of creepy when web ads always seem to know what I’m thinking about.)
However, in the near future, YouTube will also take away the option for people to comment on my videos or receive notifications of new postings.
This is unfortunate, as I do like to read my viewers’ feedback, and notifications help people find my latest video.
I view my website (the one you are reading right now) as a possible solution to at least part of the problem. You can comment on any of my postings on my site. In the past, I have been a little lazy about updating my site postings. I promise that moving forward, I will create a posting for each video or video series to allow my viewers a place to comment and interact with me.
I am also very active on Instagram. I post photos for every one of my YouTube videos, and viewers can follow and interact with me through that platform.
I’ll continue creating new content for as long as it makes me happy.
Thanks,
HoneyBeeHappy.me
Info Links:
Federal Trade Commission Press Release – https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations
YouTube Statement – https://youtube.googleblog.com/2019/09/an-update-on-kids.html
The New York Times article – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/technology/google-youtube-fine-ftc.html
The Verge article – https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/11/20856715/youtube-creators-channel-pivot-demonetization-ftc-fine-google-childrens-content-toys-games