In 2019, YouTube shared steps they are taking to address a recent settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
As part of this, YouTube is introducing a new self-designation tool in YouTube Studio. This tool enables channel owners to set their audience at the channel or video level. Choosing the channel designation that makes sense for your content will allow to appropriately designate all of your videos, reduce mistakes by YouTube’s systems and Streamline future video uploads.
This “Creator Audience” selection will be overridden by YouTube in cases of error or abuse. Starting this January, YouTube will start restricting features that rely on user data on content made for kids, including comments, notifications, and personalised ads – learn more at YouTube’s Help Centre. You may see some small changes as YouTube experiments and refines their systems over the next few months.
It is important to note that whether you have “Made for Kids” content or not, you should set a channel audience setting that is relevant to your content.
How to proceed:
- Sign in to studio.youtube.com
- On the left menu, click ‘Settings’, then click ‘Channel’
- Click on the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab
- Under ‘Audience’, choose from:
- “Yes, set this channel as made for kids. I always upload content that’s made for kids.”
- “No, set this channel as not made for kids. I never upload content that’s made for kids.”
- “I want to review this setting for every video.”
- Click Save
While YouTube say they cannot provide specific legal advice about whether your content is made for kids, additional information can be found in YouTube’s help center, on Creator Academy, and on the FTC website.
Additional resources:
- FTC open comment period
- YouTube Help: Determining if your content is made for kids
- YouTube Help: Set your channel or video’s audience
- YouTube Creator’s Channel: [Video]
Frequently Asked Questions:
Do creators based outside the United States need to designate whether their channel and videos are made for kids?
Yes, YouTube is requiring all creators to tell them whether their content is made for kids or not, even those not based in the United States. YouTube is a US based company and needs to comply with US federal law, including the COPPA and other applicable laws.
What does “Made for Kids” mean?
YouTube says it cannot provide specific legal advice about whether your content is made for kids, but according to the FTC’s guidance on COPPA, a video is child directed (referred to as “made for kids”) if:
- It is directed to children as the primary audience (e.g. videos for pre-schoolers).
- It is directed to children but children are a secondary audience (e.g. cartoon video that primarily targets teenagers but is also intended for younger kids).
- Learn more about the factors that determine if your content is considered as made for kids here.
When will interest based advertising and other features be disabled on content “Made for Kids”?
Select features such as interest based advertising and comments will be disabled when a video is designated as “Made for Kids”, which may significantly impact monetisation. From January YouTube will start limiting the data they collect on “Made for Kids” content to comply with the law.
If you have any questions on this, please get in touch with youtube@absolutelabelservices.com.
