- YouTube has announced that it is investing $100 million in original children’s programming over the next 3 years.
In a recently announced settlement with the FTC, YouTube is no longer going to use personal data of children for ad targeting purposes. Plus YouTube CEO YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki also announced that a $100 million fund is being established to fund original children’s content. This fund will be spread over 3 years across YouTube and YouTube Kids globally.
“We know these changes will have a significant business impact on family and kids creators who have been building both wonderful content and thriving businesses, so we’ve worked to give impacted creators four months to adjust before changes take effect on YouTube. We recognize this won’t be easy for some creators and are committed to working with them through this transition and providing resources to help them better understand these changes,” said Wojcicki.
YouTube is going to share more details about the fund over the next few weeks. Plus YouTube is rethinking its overall approach to kids and families. And the company is also introducing new mandatory annual training for its teams in this area.
These changes are also happening as Google is being fined a record $170 million for harvesting the personal information from children and using it to profit by targeting them with ads through YouTube.
The penalty is part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and New York’s attorney general — which had accused YouTube of violating the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
