YouTube announces new privacy rules for children’s content

YouTube, the world’s most popular online video-sharing platform, has unveiled new privacy rules aimed at limiting data collection and advertising on content aimed at children.

It’s part of a series of changes that YouTube, which has two billion users worldwide, committed itself to bringing in after being investigated by US federal regulators last year.

Google, YouTube’s parent company, agreed to pay USD 170 million to settle claims YouTube had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by knowingly collecting personal data from under 13s without their parents’ consent, and then using that data to create ads targeting youngsters.

‘Restrict data collection’

Tens of millions of young people use YouTube Kids every week, and the company says it will restrict data collection from anyone viewing children’s content, nor display personalised advertisements with the videos.

In a company blog, YouTube said it now treated personal information from ‘anyone watching children’s content on the platform as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user’.

“The means that on videos made for kids, we limit data collection and use, and as a result, we need to restrict or disable some product features. For example, we no longer serve personalised ads on this content or support features such as comments, live chat, notification bell, stories, save to playlist and others,” it added.

‘These changes will have significant impact’

“Many creators around the world have created quality kids content for their audiences, and these changes will have significant impact. We’re committed to helping creators navigate this new landscape and to supporting our ecosystem of family content. We’ll share more in the coming months. In the meantime, we continue to engage on this issue.”

“Responsibility is our number one priority at YouTube, and this includes protecting kids and their privacy. We’ve been significantly investing in the policies, products and practices to help us do this. Today’s changes allow us to do this even better and we’ll continue working to provide children, families and family creators the best experience possible on YouTube,” it added.