YouTube has placed a ban on personalised ads on all videos designated as having been made for children together with the removal of features such as comments, stories, live chat and the notification bell.
The ban came as a means for the company to enhance child safety and privacy on the video sharing platform with immediate effect, in response to concerns raised by the US Federal Trade Commission.
This follows an announcement made in September last year in which YouTube mandated that all content creators must label uploads as being child friendly or otherwise – with the personal data for all viewers of child-friendly content being treated as though they were a child, irrespective of their actual age.
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In a statement the company wrote: “We know these changes may have significant impact on creators making kids content, so we’re committed to helping them navigate this new landscape. We continue to engage on this issue, including by participating in the FTC’s open comment period. We know many creators have provided valuable feedback as well.
“Creators know their content best, and should set the designation themselves. We also use machine learning to help us identify this content, and creators can update a designation made by our systems if they believe it is incorrect. We will only override a change if abuse or error is detected.”
YouTube has previously been forced to remove ads from videos depicting naked children.
Yetunde Adegoke
