We Need Your Help!!! - YouTube and COPPA - Please Watch!!

hi this is Josh with resort tv1 and today I'm bringing you a little bit different type of a video I had planned on uploading a relaxing stroll today but if you saw my social media updates we had some huge performances at school this weekend and I got home really late last night and wanted to get some rest so I appreciate you being patient with me on that and I just really was thinking this afternoon that I actually wanted to make this video because it's something that's been on my mind for a few days and a lot of youtubers Minds so we really do need your help and we don't normally make videos like this you know asking for help with anything unless it's really serious but this is a really serious issue that could affect a lot of not just disney vloggers but other family friendly or kid-friendly content creators and so you've probably heard something about this but if not here's a little bit of a breakdown basically what's happened is the FTC has the enforcement of a law called Coppa which is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and that was passed I believe in 1998 of course to protect children under 13 online which is why you see all these notices on websites children 13 or under or under 13 have to have their parent's permission to sign up for a website you know whatever it is they have to have their parents permission to do basically anything online that would store their information and that's a federal law and if that is not followed by these websites there can be fines and things like that other penalties by the FTC so it really wasn't an issue for YouTube for a long time because YouTube actually in their Terms of Service it says it can only be used by children ages 13 and up so that satisfies the Coppa guidelines by doing that however what of course if you've seen or been around YouTube or if you have kids you know that there is a lot of kid directed or made for kids type of content on YouTube you know even my son Liam has watched some of it and that some of it's really really good some of his educational you know of course parents need to really watch and see what's going on cuz there are some things of course that are not so good or definitely wouldn't want your kids seeing on YouTube but there are some also some really good things just like the rest of the Internet there's the good and the bad and you know it's the parents responsibility to make sure that you know the children are only seeing things that are good at least that's my opinion so what's happened is the FTC has been doing an investigation and they found that YouTube was collecting information from children that were browsing on YouTube basically illegally they were collecting information to serve targeted ads to these children and so you know not necessarily collecting a lot of personal information about you know things that you might think about it's personal information like address or phone numbers or you know any other type of information like that they're basically collecting information about the child's browsing habits what they're interested in to serve targeted ads and of course this still does violate copy if the child is under 13 for adults this isn't an issue as long as there is some type of notification about that and of course you can opt-out and all those things most people don't but it's one of those things so that's what's been happening and they did this type of investigation they found that YouTube was violating Coppa and so they they slapped him with a very big fine I believe it was a hundred and seventy nine million dollars just recently just in the last last month or so and so what what happened of course was YouTube made some huge changes of course they can't afford to be fined one hundred and seventy nine million dollars and so what they've done and that the copper rules basically are saying and that by the way just kind of to sidetrack for just a second there is a YouTube kids app but what they've in the Kids app doesn't collect any personal information so they're saying any children under you know 13 should be using the YouTube kids app which does restrict what they can see and also doesn't collect personal information so it does satisfy the copper requirements but they found that less than 1% of children under 13 that we're using it just on average actually we're using the YouTube kids app that it's a very small percentage of children using it so basically and they they claim YouTube was aware the kids were using this under 13 and still having their data collected so again YouTube was find this big fine so that's kind of just a little more background information so in response to that and there was kind of a settlement and all the lawyers and everybody got together and basically made a settlement that YouTube would provide a method for content creators to self-report their content as made for kids and so you know a lot of children and child focused content creators got really upset because what happens is you would think and actually I think the FTC actually thought well it's not a big deal though the content creators will just report as made for kids if they don't report then there'll be a penalty and we'll get into that later this is why we need all your help because there's this huge penalty that could happen to actually content creators just like us if we don't comply with this so anyway YouTube has given creators the ability to say that their their video was made for kids or not made for kids and that's the only two options it's made for kids or not made for kids and when you do that when you select made for kids on your video a couple different things happen first of all there are no comments comments are disabled on that video which would be a huge hit of course for us because we love reading our comments and interacting with our viewers so that would be a huge hit the comments have to be turned off when you say it's made for kids they're trying to protect children interacting and posting online by doing that and then the second thing that happens is notifications are turned off for your video and that's a huge thing for us too because a lot of people see our videos with notifications on and so you know they might forget or they might you know it's just oh look there's a new video like this one I'm gonna upload in the middle of the day so people will be getting this video on a notification since it's not our normal upload time so that's the other thing when you say it's made for kids that they turn off notifications and then the other thing that happens is they turn off personalized targeted ads and that's basically from what I've seen it's going to be about a 70 to 80 percent reduction in ad revenue on that so a lot of creators are gonna really just not be able to afford to make videos anymore you know it would be a huge huge hit for everybody and that would be really really really hard because you know it does cost a lot of money to do what we do and so you know the ad revenue does help with that and of course all that you know all the people helping us out in other ways helps as well but other content creators really don't get you know the generous donations like we do to keep everything going and so you know a lot of content creators are gonna have to shut down if this is the case just because you know they they won't be able to afford to keep it going if their revenue is cut by 70 to 80 percent especially some of the bigger channels that are doing this for a living you know Jenna and I both have jobs and so you know we're not worried about as far as our family income is concerned but we definitely you know it would be would be hard to keep going without that so that here's what we need your help first of all they might be wondering what what what is the video made for kids and not made for kids what are the guidelines so I've got it pulled up right here this is on google site they can offer some guidance but they cannot provide legal advice if you're unsure whether your video meets the standards to seek legal counsel it's very vague and it's very scary so what happens is if you get this wrong if you mark your video as made for kids or if you mark it as if you mark it as made for kids you're safe the problem is it turns off all those things I just mentioned and so it's a really really bad thing to have to do that and so if you get it if you get it wrong and say it's not made for kids say for instance they decided one of our vlogs was made for kids even though we really do you know really push it towards families and even specifically adults really for planning and things like that you know we have a lot of kids that watch our Channel and we do like that but we're not really we're not really making these for kids we don't speak you know in kid-friendly like you know what my son would watch on video we don't do you know those types of things we're not kind of trying to focus educational content or anything like that we're not primarily showing characters and things like that we're kind of showing we really do show a lot more of the the adult side of Disney so we really are focusing a little bit more on that even though we love it when the whole families do watch our videos so we thought when this first came out we would be okay because that we really aren't making kid directed content you know like you might see like nursery rhymes or you know counting you know help or maybe even like toy reviews and stuff like that that really is geared towards kids we're not doing those things so we thought we'd be okay the problem is if you get it wrong and here's the big thing I'm sorry it's taking me a minute to get to this but if you get it wrong in the FTC finds your video they're not gonna find YouTube anymore they're gonna find the creators that being Jenna and I or any of your other favorite Disney vloggers or any other channels you watch on YouTube they will find you 42,000 dollars per video violation so we have over a thousand videos on our Channel if we got it wrong on every single video and they find us it would be 42 million dollars obviously you know I'm hoping it doesn't come to that with any channels I think that would get a lot of bad publicity and hopefully that they would do something we of they can't afford to risk that and and even if that happened and you know that the lawyer fees to fight something like that would be would be insane as well so it's pretty scary so this is where we need your help here in just a second but let me read to you how to figure out if your content is made for kids this is super vague first of all a video is child directed if children are the primary audience based on the factors described below so they're we thought we're thinking okay no children are not the primary audience literally less than two percent of our audience is even thirteen to seventeen they don't collect data on analytics for anybody under thirteen but we only have two percent of our audience that's thirteen to seventeen even and that's a legal range like 13 to 7 year olds 13 to 17 year olds can watch the content and have their information collected and that's all legal and then but it says the second one is where it's scary children are not the primary audience but the video is still directed to children based on the factors below subject matter the video educational content for preschoolers okay we're not really doing that whether children or your intended or actual audience we really aren't intending it just for children really whether the video includes child actors or models we don't do that here's where we get into trouble where the video includes character celebrities or toys that appeal to children including animated characters or cartoon figures so if we show Mickey Mouse one time in the video does that mean it's made for kids there shouldn't be okay but or if we walk up and we meet Mickey Mouse for five minutes of a six-hour livestream does that mean the video is made for kids you see I'm saying it's so vague there's just no way to really know whether the video includes song stories or poems for children where ours really doesn't but could you say that if you hear you know how far I'll go from Moana in the middle of happily ever after it does that mean the video is made for kids I don't know it's really really vague any other information you may have to help you determine your videos audience like Imperial empirical evidence of the videos audience oh well we do have that okay we do and we can show you we can show that most of our audience is over 17 which is great because that is you know we have we do have a mostly adult audience so we really aren't in violation at least on that so anyway like I said this is very vague I really think the government needs to do a much much much much better job of lining what is and what isn't or they need to find another way to keep kids from getting their information collected without shutting down all these creators the way that they're gonna have to do and let's be honest if notifications are off for a video and comments are disabled and all those things all that interaction is disabled even taking out the abra of a new part of it it really almost seems pointless to make a video when you can't even read somebody's comment on it that would just I can't I can't even imagine that so you know those are things that would really really hurt us a lot just to not even know what people thought of the video I I can't even imagine I love reading your comments and even if we don't get to respond to them as much as we want we do read them and and we want to know so so that would be a big problem so anyway what can you do to help sorry I'm rambling a little bit because this is upsetting but what can you do to help first of all there's a change.org petition that has over a quarter of a million signatures so far two hundred and fifty million signatures right 250,000 signatures would be great to get it to over a million signatures but we need your help so I'm put the link in the description and I'm gonna put the link also as the top comment on the video so I'm gonna put it in two different places please go to that petition sign it all they're asking for literally is your name and your email address and you can hit a checkbox to keep your signing private they don't have to report it publicly but they do ask for the email just to verify that you're a unique person to sign it but they'll keep all that private change.org of course is a reputable site they've been around for a long long time and they're not for-profit and all that kind of thing so lots of great petitions on there but please go sign this petition and also share it please share it on your social media if you have a youtube channel if you have any kind of social media or even if it's just your personal facebook please share this on behalf of every single creator that you like to watch because like I said we want to keep YouTube the way it is we want to keep bringing you great content we don't want to have comments disabled we don't have notifications disabled where somebody says oh I see two months later that you made a great video but I never saw it you know how frustrating would that be that somebody sees you know two months late that we did something or that they wanted to see you know or a live stream that they wanted to be a part of that they didn't know what's happening so that that's crucial that we keep those comments and notifications on and again you know the ad revenue cut by seventy or eighty percent would be devastating for for all of us as well so those are things that we need your help with so go sign that change.org petition please so we would appreciate it and share it it's easy to share share it out and let's spread this like wildfire we've got over seventy seven thousand subscribers let's see how far we can make this go the next thing is the FTC the government organization who is actually enforcing this regulation which by the way I think it's good to protect children's privacy online please don't get me wrong I just think this is a horrible way to enforce this and there's got to be a better way to do this the FTC is accepting comments on this on their website so I will link to that as well and I would really really appreciate I know it takes a little bit more time but if you would post a comment about how you know whatever you think about this I mean obviously you know you say whatever you think but some of the things I wrote where I felt like parents should be responsible for seeing which information is collected from their child you know parents should be the ones watching what apps their kids use I certainly do for Liam he'd know he's only three so he doesn't get to use you know a tablet that much or any kind of online you know unless we're right there with him but even as he gets older and he can use things by himself a little bit more you you can bet that we're gonna be watching every single thing just cuz we want to keep him safe we don't want him there's a lot of bad stuff out that we don't want him exposed to it so I feel like it's on the parent to see what information is being collected and to give or deny that permission so I feel like the government kind of stepping in here is a little bit of overstep on some things I think some parts of the law are good and I'm not going to get into a big dissertation on the law itself but I really do feel like like it would be good to have you know to be able to to enforce this in a little bit more common sense type of a way so go leave a comment on the FTC website again you know make it professional I mean we're not we're not trying to yell and scream at anybody I just found out the FTC Commissioners really thought this wouldn't affect youtubers that much they actually thought they were just protecting kids see I think a lot of these people don't use it and I hate that the the politicians are that out of touch and again we don't like to get political on our Channel I'm not supporting or you know denying one one group or the other but I'm just saying it is sad that the people in charge didn't really even know that this was gonna affect people so a couple really big children focused and child focus youtubers very reputable great children content youtubers actually got in touch with the FTC and even got a meeting with some of the main you know commissioners on there and told them how big of a problem this was and they actually agreed to delay the enforcement of this to see what else they could do so kudos to the FTC for listening to people I really do appreciate that so make those comments they are listening again let's keep it professional you know obviously we are scared and angry but it seems like they didn't really understand so let's help them understand what's going on here they actually didn't know it was gonna cut out ad revenue by seventy to eighty percent and the guy that the guy that the youtuber that went to talk to them I don't remember the name I was just watching a couple stories about it he actually said to them you know how would you like you to somebody just walked up to you one day and said hey your boss said hey we're gonna cut your salary 70 to 80 percent is that fine like you know cuz this particular youtuber is he you know this is what he does for his job so it really will cut his salary by that much and the FCC was like oh wow we we didn't realize this was going to do that to people so they they want to find other ways to get this done so if you have any ideas suggestions comments please go first of all do that petition first of all sign it share it share it everywhere and then the next thing is file a comment with the FTC and let them know that you don't want this to happen you know obviously we all you know support protecting children online but we don't want it to be done this way there are other ways to do that and certainly I think more responsibility needs to be put on the parents as a parent myself I completely agree with that and I think a lot of comments I have seen have said you know look let's yes there should be some laws to protect kids but let's put a little bit more responsibility on the parent and and a little bit less enforcement on some things one thing I did see that kind of upset me that the FTC said one of the commissioners basically said one of the commissioners actually did say that they were going to go after youtubers and it was a bit to them like shooting fish in a barrel I thought that was a horrible thing to say so I hope they reconsider that position why would I I don't understand what that why they would want to go after youtubers that really are making family-friendly things that that are like I said I understand a while back they went after some really bad content that was focused for kids and I get that you know things that are not appropriate things that are just damaging to children obviously they need to go after that and they did and I feel like they've cleaned a lot of that up which is good but the the content that's good that's educational that's wholesome that's family-friendly that promotes learning education good entertainment family-friendly stuff you know that needs to be protected and and to say that we're shooting fish in a barrel I I don't know so that we need your help and we need to let them know that that's not okay and and that this isn't okay that we need to fix this before we move forward with the law that is so vague it may be regular people that are just trying to make some videos and really you know reach a wide audience or maybe even just smaller channels that are just really enjoying uploading content whether it's focus for kids or not you know that that they might get fined forty two thousand dollars a video that seems absolutely insane to me you know for just for just for trying to you know entertain children and then also not have their comments turned off not have their notifications turned off so anyway having said all that I do think this will be resolved if everybody works together and that's why I'm making this video we do need your help we do need you to take action we need everybody to be vocal about this I'm les to stop this before it starts and you know let's just make sure that family-friendly contents protected on YouTube thank you so much for watching and I leave us a comment let us know what you think I shared this video I'll share all the websites out that I that I posted so that we can start getting this turned around you know dude hit the like leave those comments do all those things so that we can get this video going this isn't a complete explanation but at least it gives you some background sorry I rambled a little bit I was trying to dissect all my thoughts onto this and put them you know into a coherent cohesive video so I hope I achieved that but either way just go sign the petition and go leave the FTC a comment and we appreciate all your help with that we're gonna be back with regular videos tomorrow and you know we can't wait to keep doing this we have no intention of stopping doing this and certainly listen I think everybody that knows even if something happens and we have to mark all our videos not kid-friendly I mean it'll be horrible I still don't think we're gonna stop making them I hope the live chat still works I mean I don't know you know I mean part of the the biggest part of what we do is the community so we want to be able to talk to you guys but we're gonna keep making videos we love doing it we can't ever see ourselves stopping doing that hopefully we can find a way to work within the guidelines or they are changed but but don't worry we're not going anywhere we're not quitting YouTube we really love doing this we just want to make sure that we can keep doing it the exact same way with with no bad changes may be only good change it's only improvements that's all we want to do and we want you guys to get notified when we have a new video too I think that's that's just a basic part of being a youtuber is being able to have people notified when you have new videos so thanks again for watching thanks for helping us out with this we appreciate you guys we love all of you guys and we're just so thankful to be able to do this and thanks for being patient while I've been gone the last last week or so it's been a busy busy week at school it's been incredible just finished some of the best performances of my career I've been teaching now for my 19th year and it's been a ton of work but it's been a dream come true so thank you for supporting us through all that if you're still watching all my rambling I appreciate that as well leave a comment let me know if you made it till the end of the video anyway we'll see you guys next time and just thanks again everybody so for now have a great big beautiful tomorrow bye bye