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Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
I'm about 8 minutes in... What the fuck is going on?
Arin tried to make a video off a bunch of sketchy-ass foreign cartridges with about as little preparation as humanly possible.
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
Yeah I wonder if he used the actual bootleg hardware it would have worked.
PS4 - Local_H_Jay
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I'm thinking at least a bit. They're going to have to scramble to possibly avoid fines, but then again it is vague as shit so maybe it doesn't matter what you do and you'll be fined anyway.
I've not seen PANIC(tm) like this on YouTube in. . . forever actually. There was Adpocalypse and Adpocalypse 2: Electric Boogaloo, but those were vague "sky is falling" scenarios. COPPA is real, terrifyingly vaguely worded and policed by the by an organization with a vested interest in finding culprits (the FTC).
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Here's what Arin has to say about it (click for whole thread)
PS4 - Local_H_Jay
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The settlement Google made with the FTC brought some changes to the law. Most notably and terrifying is that YouTube is no longer responsible for violations by Content Creators. The Creators themselves are now responsible and will face the FTC's ire by themselves.
edit- Here is a lawyer man talking lawyer stuff.
edit 2- and here are the "guidelines" to determine if your videos are "kid content"
Like, damn man.
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Essentially you only need to worry if a chunk, even a small chunk like 20-30% of your audience is under 13.
So why is the onus on the channels? They aren't the ones harvesting the data. It's YouTube.
PS4 - Local_H_Jay
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It was YouTube's responsibility, but a part of their recent settlement with the FTC was the agreement that YouTube shouldn't be responsible for what other people do. FTC agree'd and took their cool $170 mil sans all that prolonged courtroom drama (well, technically it did take like a year+, but still!).
So basically it shakes down like this. By having Content Creators flag themselves as "for kids" or "not for kids" YouTube gets to wash their hands of the mess.
If your channel is "For kids", well you probably won't have a channel for long as those get removed from AdSense. Your channel also loses out on other things like Community tab, comments (kinda wish this applied to all channels tbh), title/end blocks and likely a couple other things I'm forgetting.
If you flag your channel as "not for kids", but the FTC deems that it is based on their extremely vague criteria or you just so happen to appeal to a lot of children through no fault of your own (goodbye to anything dealing with Minecraft) then you get sued (and likely lose the channel). If YouTube's algorithms deem that is it, well you also still lose out on your channel and revenue until you go through an appeals process.
edit- A summarized version of YouTube's argument to the FTC:
FTC: "You've been collecting data on children for years."
YouTube: "But YouTube is expressly a 13 or older website!"
FTC: "A terrifyingly large percent of your users are under 13."
YouTube: "That's not our fault! It's those damn Content Creators! They're making videos that appeal to children under 13! We're powerless to stop it!"
FTC: "Well that argument sounds good to me. You can go ahead and write the check out to 'cash'."
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They biggest competition to YouTube isn't an app just like it, it's apps like Instagram and TikTok, both of which I'm sure the FTC is eyeing as we speak
PS4 - Local_H_Jay
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Actually TikTok was already sued by the FTC back in February. They paid $5.7 mil.
To the FTC this is a cash pinata. I don't think anyone is going to try to actually fight them and they'd likely just settle. Pretty sure the FTC has figured this out too. Their guidelines are so vague that they could probably throw a dart at just about any channel and find a violator. It also isn't helping anyone that YouTube's algorithms are forcing channels to be Family Friendly in order to make a buck and therefore are also more likely to be in violation of the FTC's esoteric rules.
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Does this also affect Twitch or does Twitch not mine data and content makers getting revenue through Twitch is mostly donation-based because it's live streaming? That would help with some of the channels possibly getting flagged, but there are a bunch of really cool informative videos (thinking like, recipe/cooking stuff) that could get flagged because kids see chocolate cake or donuts with sprinkles or whatever. Live-streaming a cake baking video would be hella boring.
"This goes in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes..."
Steam: TheArcadeBear
At least that's how I think it will go, IANAL whatsoever. I just set my (tiny insignificant) channel to a blanket adults only setting, so maybe it'll be okay? Maaaaybe?
I feel bad for anyone actually trying to make a living of any kind on YT, it seems now to just get harder/more fraught with difficulties, year on year.
I'd be shitting my pants if I lived off Content Creation at Youtube.
I know a number of YouTubers I watch have stopped relying on ad revenue and have moved towards Patreon and having Sponsors. I think this is probably the better way to do things, relying on ad revenue from YouTube seems like a one way ticket to Stress City. Trying to keep up with the ever changing algorithms is a Sisyphean task. Living with the Sword of Damocles that is random and nonsensical demonetization bots sounds dreadful. You can't really ever stop and take a vacation without the bots dropping you.
I know some people have bitched about YouTubers having sponors and patreons, but man, mother fuckers need to pay bills! If having a patreon and shilling a product allows content creators to have a much more reliable and predictable income plus allow them to actually have some R&R, then I am A-OK with that.
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PS4 - Local_H_Jay
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The thing about not having the audience to support a Patreon is that I'd expect that means your ad revenue is pitiful too and YouTube isn't your full time job (yet?)
Because the way YouTube is moving, there doesn't seem to be any reason to rely on their shit.
Yeah but that first influx of cash is crucial to budding channels. I've watched a lot of YouTubers talk about when they finally got monetization, they were able to take on YouTube as a part time job. By the time you hit your stride, it could become a full time job. Ad revenue from YouTube videos can help you fund things as they take up more of your time, allowing you to grow that audience because you're making money. Patreon is a bandaid to a broader issue, which is that bots run YouTube and can take away a significant portion of your revenue away. Not to mention, being demonitized can also lead to your video being suppressed.
This video is (partially) about the effects the bots can have on content and the creators:
Around the 19 min mark they talk about FairTube, a organization of YouTubers fighting to get YouTube to clearly explain the rules behind monetization. The COPPA stuff is scary because youtubes bots are already doing things that YouTube says they aren't, and as time goes on the algorithm learns to block certain videos from making money and being shared on the site. They show a small channel by the name of Armchair Historian who was a two man team; he goes on to explain around the @ 23 min mark that he had a full time employee coming to work with him on these videos, he was demonitized for using the wrong words in his title, and then couldn't pay his editor/researcher. This is crippling for a small channel, and many have folded under that pressure, because they don't have the network to reach out to YouTube or gather fund elsewhere.
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The Armchair Historian actually started a website specifically for history and history-adjacent YouTubers to post their videos. Pretty much everyone I follow is on it already, so that's neat.
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A legal channel I like (legaleagle) just did a similar thing but more broadly. It seems to be relatively more common for content creators, or groups of them (I imagine they're more whoever is backing the channels, my understanding is that it's increasingly rare for channels to be independent if the become of any size) to be putting out their own video sites, usually some sort of subscription based.
Which just makes me wonder, where are these things being hosted? Who's handling the bandwidth, encoding, etc? Is that a service out there people can just buy to run their own video sites, or are these groups making their own? And regardless, isn't that all just kicking the can down the road, as far as the reasons these people are wanting to move away from youtube? Data collection of children isn't going to be any different, restriction wise, on any streaming site. You may avoid attention for awhile not being big, but if you become any size you're gonna get noticed, and if you haven't been doing things on the level you're likely not going to have the leverage for a nice deal like Google here.
As far as visibility, I guess some money from subs is better than being demonetized on youtube, but just like with legal restrictions, if you become of any size, you're going to attract the attention of other media, and a company like Universal or something isn't going to be any more friendly because you're not on youtube if they think you're hosting their content. They may not be able to automate a takedown, but they can still just sue you and bring your site down via other means.
I get the desire to not be under the thumb of algorithms and automation on Youtube, with constant threats being hung over your head, but you're also opening the door for other avenues of attack that youtube possibly prevented because of its size. Twitch may be nice for streaming but it is hot garbage for anything that isn't live right now. It seems to me the best bet people have is to do like Sterling (whether you like him personally or not) and have your income be from outside support like patreon and just assume that any video you upload will be immediately demonetized. Yeah that requires a steady stream of income from individuals, but you never really need to worry about copyright claims, as long as they don't go to straight up takedowns.
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So it turns out that COPPA does in fact have an exception in the law for Mixed/General Audiences. The FTC recognizes that some things out there appeal to everyone. That is cool.
However, YouTube on the other hand is going ahead with their more Black/White interpretation. Your channel is either For Kids or Not For Kids. There is no middle ground. If you are in violation, YouTube (but not the FTC) will take action (up to and including closing your channel).
YouTube is well aware of this General Audience exception to COPPA. However, they have deemed that creating a system to sort channels with this exception in mind would ultimately hurt their bottom line.
So to recap; If your channel has a General Audience you don't need to worry about the FTC. Super, no one wants to have to deal with the FTC. However, YouTube doesn't care nor do their bots. So if you flag your channel as "Not For Kids", but you have a General Audience then the bots will come down on you. While certainly not as bad as getting sued by the FTC it would still be pretty devastating to a lot of channels out there.
So as a Content Creator you've two options:
1) Flag your channel as "For Kids". You will absolutely lose revenue and generally hamstring your channel. But, you'll not have to worry about the bots. Well, I suppose you still need to worry about the good ol' demonetizing bots.
2) Flag your channel as "Not For Kids", but you will have to live with the reality that bots may deem you in violation through no fault of your own and shut your channel down. Though you still don't need to worry about the FTC.
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Less unnecessary, and more wildly misdirected. There is an epidemic of weird shitty videos that make money off of the clicks of little kids, showing them awful videos made solely for the purpose of making money from parents sitting their kids down in front of the internet unsupervised and letting them have at it. However, the law as it currently exists affects a lot of legitimate videos that shouldn't be impacted, but might be.
However, can I also point out that half of this problem was created by YouTube itself and the way their algorithms worked on stacking weird keywords etc. The fact is, YouTube made the problem of kids being drawn down rabbit holes of awful and exploitative videos like this.
“Although the word Michigan by itself usually refers to the State of Michigan and Hell suggests the town of Hell, the game takes place in Chicago, Illinois, and is named because the game's phenomena center around Lake Michigan.”
Being from Michigan and of course knowing all about Hell my disappointment great.
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There's a great LP up on the archive if you want to experience everything, it's fascinating.