The End of Modeling Videos on You Tube? by Kevin K

The back story all started when the FTC informed You Tube (YT)(Google) that they were in violation of COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) by collecting data from kids (13 and under) and the algorithm directing ads at them.   You Tube remedy was to not allow kids under 13 from having a YT account. So what happened? They lied on the form and said they were over 13 and/or asked their parents can they watch videos through their accounts.

Children's advocacy groups felt the rules didn't go far enough and the FTC sued YT for $175 million!With that they created another rule putting all the liability on the video creators saying they need to mark their videos that are directed at children as such. when the creators do this they lose out on a percentage of the ad revenue, as well as other perks to grow the channel.

YT went through all the videos on the platform and marked the ones that were child directed or child attractive. But were very vague on what it all meant. When asked, YT told the creators to consult an attorney. But that's not the end, starting Jan. 2020, the FTC will go thru the videos. Some bureaucrat in DC will look for videos that have been mis-marked and can fine the creator up to $42,000 per video! 

The creator who's video I watched - Andy's Hobby HQ - says that the age analytics of his videos falls between the high teens and 65 years old... No kids.  It isn't the 60s were models were an interest of kids. But some pencil pusher in DC can look at one of his videos and think "Oh scale models... they're toys... toys for kids."  And hand down a the fine.  Andy says he has a few hundred model videos. That's a lot of $$. 

Even tho not all video creators are in the US, they must abide by these rules, and those that say no will simply get their channels turned off.  Many of the creators these days use making videos as their livelihood. Many creators are simply afraid and sadly willing to walk away from their channel  leaving us with any of the content we like to watch - model building and painting.

Now the FTC says it's will listen to the public, so we need people to sign the petition and write or email the FTC politely. There is a link below of talking points to be mentioned.

This is a list of sites to check out:

Write a comment to the FTC: https://bit.ly/31XAEXJ

Suggested Talking Points for Creators: https://bit.ly/31SwLmI

Suggested Talking Points for Viewers: https://bit.ly/2Wptf1U

Sign our Petition: http://chng.it/kLnwsSJzFv

This is great YouTube video explaining COPPA: https://youtu.be/1b9HGNHm-aQ