YouTube urges FTC to provide creators clearer COPPA guidelines ahead of Jan 1 enforcement deadline

YouTube has submitted an official comment to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC)  public comments on the change to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule). The changes to COPPA seek an expansion to the definition of ‘child-directed’ content, and enforce guidelines for creators to better reflect how children and families use technology.

YouTube is seeking clarity from the FTC about when content should be considered child-directed, mixed audience, or general audience; since these groups can overlap. YouTube has suggested the FTC to consider not only ‘ actual content of the video, but also its context’ when judging whether creators’ content are actually directed at children below 13.