We all have personal opinions on our current U.S. government. As creators we should be quite concerned with their latest decisions involving the freedom of creative content since recently the FTC has enlightened the company YouTube about the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) where the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged the site with a fine of over $100 million. But to not only make matters worst for YouTube, they also brought up a fine that affects all creators on the platform that fines any creator $42 thousand per video that don't go within the guidelines of COPPA. This is a harsh time for not just content creators but also creative individuals like filmmakers or photographers. It's basically pointing out that the government is taking control of our creativity and regulating what is satisfactory.
YouTuber Mat Pat discuss the current situation involving YouTube and COPPA
This act of hypocrisy is completely ridiculous since the government is outlawing kid related content which seems to be a complete waste of time and money if all they are worrying about is the appropriate content that we share with kids. The FTC is without a doubt completely idiotic for applying such a ridiculous ruling. Sure there are a bunch of creators who are exploiting the use of kids to create massive growth in their audience but there are far more people who properly create content for the sake of children. Animations, toys, games are all things that can pertain and excite a child. But the government believes it to be a complete invasion of the children's own privacy which is something that shouldn't be the creators fault but the parents.
YouTube to begin with was never an all child platform. I would say that most of the content is focused mainly to those who are teenage and older. But if children wanted to view the younger related content on YouTube, I think that it is the parents responsibility to make that decision. But now things are turning the worse and 2020 may lead to an end to not just a website but to all creative platforms because YouTube is the biggest media outlet in the entire world. If that falls so will the others.
If you would like to follow more on COPPA please follow the link here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/25/2019-15754/request-for-public-comment-on-the-federal-trade-commissions-implementation-of-the-childrens-online
If you would like to sign the petition against COPPA please follow the link here: https://www.change.org/p/youtubers-and-viewers-unite-against-ftc-regulation?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_18756399_en-US%3Av1&recruiter=1020301093&recruited_by_id=fe38f810-0b5a-11ea-82c2-adf6e84a74f3&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&use_react=false