OldUnreal (Engine)

Due to the YouTube/Coppa debacle, comments and likes/dislikes have been disabled channel-wide on my YouTube channel.

Q: Why can't I comment or like/dislike on your videos?
A: I'm all for free speech, but YouTube failed to give me clear instructions on the YouTube/COPPA debacle. Because this channel is a hobby project, I have no budget, time and interest to hire a lawyer so to be safe, all content has been marked as "for kids" because it could appeal to them.


Q: Did you do this, or did YouTube?
A: I set the target audience as "for kids". YouTube removed the comments and like/dislike buttons.

Q: You suck.
A: I know. But blame YouTube for this. I don't take the risk and I won't gamble. It's not worth it.

Q: Will these features come back?
A: These features may come back once YouTube re-enables them for kids content again or comes with clear guidance about content that may appeal to anyone, including kids.

Q: How do I complain?
A: Write a letter to YouTube:


You can contact YouTube at the address below.
Google LLC, D/B/A YouTube
901 Cherry Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066
USA
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

Contact FTC (Coppa)
https://www.ftc.gov/contact

That's sad news. I set my Youtube channel to content NOT for kids.

Well it seems FTC didn't even block all YouTube videos at least.

Q: You suck.
A: I know.

Come one friend, you know none of us thinks like that.

Too bad but I guess that's what happens when uninformed people take grand sweeping decisions on stuff they have no idea about.

To be honest this doesn't seem hard to decide or understand.

Youtube gives you a binary decision, whether to tell that your content is targeted for kids or not, "targeted" being the keyword here.
Not "appealing" to them, actually "targeted", "meant" for them.

Because when you set it being for kids, it is assumed that your target audience are kids, and kids only.

If all you have is UT videos and techy stuff for example (didn't check, just assuming), then your content is clearly NOT for kids, so just set it as such.

Legally speaking, NOT for kids is a much safer choice when it doubt than stating that your content is for kids, because all you're saying is that your target audience aren't kids.

I mean, imagine that you had videos with nudity in them, they're certainly "appealing" to kids, especially the ones hitting puberty, but they're certainly not the targeted audience, and you saying that those kinds of videos are meant for them may get you in more trouble than if you just set them otherwise.

From there, whether kids see it or comment on your videos, it's Youtube's problem, not yours, since you have already clearly set that kids aren't your target audience.
Many kids will just create accounts where they portray themselves being older than they actually are, if they haven't already.

If you're not even monetizing anything, you have even less reason to worry about.
So relax.

And if it wasn't clear already, I have already set my own channel to NOT for kids as well, and I have UT99 videos there, as well Fortnite videos (Fortnite being popular mostly among kids, but they're not my target audience).

To be honest this doesn't seem hard to decide or understand.

Youtube gives you a binary decision, whether to tell that your content is targeted for kids or not, "targeted" being the keyword here.
Not "appealing" to them, actually "targeted", "meant" for them.

Because when you set it being for kids, it is assumed that your target audience are kids, and kids only.

If all you have is UT videos and techy stuff for example (didn't check, just assuming), then your content is clearly NOT for kids, so just set it as such.

Legally speaking, NOT for kids is a much safer choice when it doubt than stating that your content is for kids, because all you're saying is that your target audience aren't kids.

I mean, imagine that you had videos with nudity in them, they're certainly "appealing" to kids, especially the ones hitting puberty, but they're certainly not the targeted audience, and you saying that those kinds of videos are meant for them may get you in more trouble than if you just set them otherwise.

From there, whether kids see it or comment on your videos, it's Youtube's problem, not yours, since you have already clearly set that kids aren't your target audience.
Many kids will just create accounts where they portray themselves being older than they actually are, if they haven't already.

If you're not even monetizing anything, you have even less reason to worry about.
So relax.

And if it wasn't clear already, I have already set my own channel to NOT for kids as well, and I have UT99 videos there, as well Fortnite videos (Fortnite being popular mostly among kids, but they're not my target audience).

It's not that simple. The question is not only if I target it towards children, but also if the content appeals to children. Where games and animated characters are on of the things to consider. When I was kid I was interested in dam construction because I live in Zeeland, The Netherlands where some pretty impressive dams were built. If YT existed by then, I would surely have been watching a lot of vids about these dams.

The problem is that YouTube currently only gives two choices: "For kids" and "Not for kids" while my content is just for anyone who may be interested. If I get an option to mark my content as "for anyone", that would be fine but I feel that YT forces me into this to stay on the safe side. Or if YT gave me an option to just block kids from my vids and let grownups watch it, it would be fine as well. It's just too limited now and I'm not going to take legal risks for a hobby project.

My content never was monetized. I don't like ads. I always block them. They distract from the content.

Basically, it will be this way until the rules are not vague anymore and uploaders don't are held for the risk of making a mistake here.

It seems clear enough to me:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9528076

While it's subjective, just like most legal stuff is (this is not the only one, so don't hold your breath for anything legal-related to be remotely crystal clear, that's one of the reasons courts exist in the first place), what you're saying about appealing to children is not what that page above says, not in the sense you're describing it anyway.

They clearly say it again and again that the main driver is whether or not your content is targeted to children.

Maybe your fear stems mostly from the fact that they also mention that even if children are not your primary audience, or if certain elements are in the video, that it may be considered a video for kids.

However, if you read carefully, they also go on to clarify that what they mean is that for a video to be for kids, kids have to be "a" targeted audience in some way, that's pretty much the gist of it.

They may not be "the" targeted audience, but if they are "one of" the targeted audiences, as in you actually put effort in making it kid-friendly, then it's for kids, that's pretty much there is to it.

They even give some examples.

They even go further in trying to clarify that there's a difference between "general audience" and "mixed audience".
So if your content is for a "general audience", then they made it clear that you should label your video as "NOT for kids".

Meaning that the examples you gave should clearly be labeled "NOT for kids".

If you're still not convinced, well... ok.