Consumer Groups Bemoan Google's "Deceptive" Ads for Kids In FTC Complaint 92
Mark Wilson writes A number of consumer groups have filed a complaint with the FTC suggesting that Google is targeting children with 'unfair and deceptive' ads in YouTube Kids for Android and iOS. A letter signed by Children Now, Consumer Watchdog, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, and others says that ads are displayed in a way that would not be permitted on broadcast or cable television. The letter makes three main complaints about the app. The first suggests that Google mixes programming and ads, while another says that the relationship between Google and the manufacturers of advertised products is not clear. The groups ask for the FTC to take action to stop the advertisements. Also covered by The Verge and VentureBeat; here's the complaint letter.
Wow, these ads must be AWFUL (Score:1)
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pretty sure thats not the case, i have seen ads for tv series that i am currently watching... new season dvd's blah blah. unless its a specific save the children rule.
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My first thought is: Why even use youtube for kids? Is content on youtube REALLY that damaging? I figure that at the worst, younger kids wouldn't understand what they're seeing, let alone somehow be damaged by it.
Just use normal youtube with ad filtering.
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There is some content on YouTube, that many parents (me included) find inappropriate for children.
Example was that my kid had found some Dora the Explorer cartoons on it, and afterwards YouTube suggested "related videos" that included very explicit adult content in non-official Dora cartoons.
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Maybe it's not being a parent and all, but I remember when I was 11 finding playboys and using swear words with my friends, and from what I understand this is basically normal for all kids of every generation, except in the older generations prior to pornography where the kids were more likely to engage in the real deal instead.
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Oh, definitely - I'd also seen my first "dirty magazine" by the time I was 11.
But there's a difference between that, and a 5-yr old being subjected her favorite cartoon figure engaging in various acts, or hearing her talk about exterminating the native population while being a "potty-mouth".
I'm kinda conscious of my kids learning the differences between nudity, affection and sexuality, and some of the stuff people are uploading on YouTube would undermine my efforts in that area.
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Well, I mean it's only the Marlboro Man and some ads for liquor. There's nothing all that strange about those. Kids were seeing those all the time in the glory days of the 1950s.
Not your grandpa's entertainment medium (Score:1, Offtopic)
Porn is not permitted on broadcast television either. Welcome to the internet.
Re:Not your grandpa's entertainment medium (Score:5, Funny)
You're equating porn with advertising? Surely you are joking. One is filth-ridden trash, demeaning to women and men alike, imagined by sociopaths and enjoyable only to the sickest of perverts, the other is just people having fun in bed.
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The internet isn't TV or radio, tough shit if the FCC doesn't like it.
How much are parents paying to use YouTube Kids as a baby sitter?
If anything, stop paying it and problem solved.
Or even better, stop letting the computer/tablet/smartphone raise your kid for you.
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The internet isn't TV or radio, tough shit if the FCC doesn't like it.
That bill with the name "Net Neutrality"? The fear of internet-aware conservatives was that it gave the FCC just such authority: to regulate content. Time will tell who was right, but vigilance is certainly required here if was want to keep the FCC out of it.
Now, blanket bans on certain kinds of ads regardless of medium, that's different. The government certainly has an interest in fraud prevention that has nothing to do with how the ad is delivered.
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Wake up American's (Score:4, Interesting)
Hello, Google is all about targeted ads. Its how it makes most of its money. Gee, Parents, you have no problem buying your young kids smartphones. Then complain about everything that the kids are subjected too with them. From over buying apps, to content issues, and now ad's targeting them. All I can say is duh.
Mobile is obviously the new format for ads and no matter what OS you are using Android, IOS or something else. The ad revenue stream is most important.
No doubt this kind of litigation will be tied up in courts for years, wasting tons of money complaining rather then simply not participating in this kind of ad marketing. I question how many kids need a smartphone? In general I agree that some ads are not appropriate for some age groups. But I also question if many of these ads are simply placed within apps that are also inappropriate for that age group? Are the ads simply being targeted correctly and its the end user who should not have access to that app?
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nice strawman there. The problem is come up with a reasonable complaint. Complaining about someone on the internet like this is ludacris, no matter who the company is.
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What does rap have to do with this? [wikipedia.org]
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It has more to do with my poor spelling.
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Oh like Toy Commercials, during the cartoons?
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Parents, just tell your kids "No, we aren't buying the advertised toy."
Problem solved.
It's called PARENTING
i've heard this for years, move along (Score:2)
Sponsors pay for content either in production or distribution and that's how they get their brand recognition to their targeted audience. It's been that way for decades and when it comes to kids shows, most of them are toy manufacturers or clothing or related products that get the kids to desire the things that are advertised. with targeted marketing on platforms like IOS or Android now content sponsors can drill in even further with ads that are identifying a specific child. "Hey Billy, buy this.."
is it
If the service is free (Score:5, Insightful)
then you are the product.
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If people had heard it enough they would not have bothered to write the original article about a Consumer Group "bemoaning" the practice.
OF COURSE they are doing that, that is the whole point of providing a free product, to monetize you. Don't like it? Don't use it.
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Soylent Green... it is MADE OF PEOPLE!
"Singled out are unboxing videos" (Score:2)
A while back our children discovered videos that are so called unboxing videos. It is unclear to me what the exact revenue source is, but there are videos that are nothing but a set of hands opening surprise eggs for an hour (not an exaggeration - we're talking about a literal hour long video of hands opening up a big pile of surprise eggs, and there are many like it). Now, is this disturbing? Yes, absolutely. What is even more disturbing is that the advertisement has become the content.
That being said,
YouTube has Ads (Score:1)
YouTube has ads, film at 11. Also, water found to be wet.
I've read the articles, and I'm not finding how the content of the 'for kids' version of the site is WORSE for children than the vanilla experience.
Can anyone shed light on this for me?
We restrict our kids' access to YouTube (Score:3)
We cut the cord years ago and have used a mix of Hulu, Netflix, and the various network apps for content (PBS Kids, etc). YouTube has always been problematic, not just for the ads, but also for the content and the "next up" algorithm. As a result, we only let the kids use YouTube (and YouTube Kids) when we're in the room with them and have our finger on the remote.
Here are the specific problems with YouTube:
Ads: The ads are not targeted at all. If you've ever paid attention to ads, you already know the promise of targeted advertising is bunk. The problem with YouTube is that it's doubly bunk when it comes to kids programming on normal YouTube (and apparently on kids' YouTube as well). Completely inappropriate ads will pop up after kids shows. It's not rocket science to tweak your algorithm to play a kid appropriate add after a cartoon, even if it means the occasional adult will get the wrong ad.
Content: This is trickier. A lot of the cartoon content on YouTube consists of collections of episodes bundled into a single video. The problem is, the bundles are created by fans and you have no idea what's in it until you watch it. Sometimes they're crappy screen captures. Sometimes they're dubbed in another language (without calling it out in the title). In those cases, you spend 10 minutes with the kids just trying to find one they can watch. The worst, however, are the ones that are "archival" and created by superfans. My best example is a compilation of Donald Duck cartoons that includes the WWII episode where Donald fights Hitler*. Great episode... for adults who understand the context. Terrible episode for kids. YouTube has no good way of warning parents about this.
Next up: This is easy. The algorithm appears to randomly pick something that has the same word in the title as the previous or has been tagged to be similar. It's very easy to go from Donald Duck to Duck Hunting to Duck Dynasty to an unhinged Phil Robertson rant. Leave your kids alone with YouTube at your own risk!
Look, Google has more money than God and a lot of smart engineers. If they cared about this, they could fix it. YouTube Kids isn't the solution.
-Chris
*does that count for Goodwin?
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That was true right up to the point that they made an offering of something specifically claimed to be curated and appropriate for kids.
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On the contrary, I've found Google's targeted ads to reflect my own interests reasonably well. They don't *always* get it right, of course. But they do so the majority of time. The thing is, I share neither my computer nor youtube account with anyone else. so there's no chance of anyone else's browsing skewing the profile they have of my interests.
So, if you're consistently finding that the delivered ads don't reflect your, or your kids', interests; you're better off making sure that the right person is
I don't have kids but (Score:1)