<story><title>Kidfluencers&apos; Rampant YouTube Marketing Creates Minefield for Google</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-20/kidfluencers-rampant-youtube-marketing-creates-minefield-for-google</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>duxup</author><text>I used to use YouTube Kids for a bit with my kids.  I always kept an eye on what they chose, but I&amp;#x27;d let them choose (even if just to see how it would play out). After a while I watched my kids choose merch focused videos and a lot of very low quality sort of inane stuff that shows up on there.  I&amp;#x27;d block them but the app really doesn&amp;#x27;t let you block them, there are always more.&lt;p&gt;You also can&amp;#x27;t just white list things in the Youtube Kids app.  There&amp;#x27;s straight up no option to be able to affirmatively choose what your kids get to pick from.&lt;p&gt;So now YouTube is just straight forbidden unless I&amp;#x27;m picking the videos and that effectively means my kids don&amp;#x27;t see it at all outside of when I have a fun video to share... and even then I&amp;#x27;m wary of what YouTube might suggest what to watch next...&lt;p&gt;With YouTube it feels like no matter what you do you&amp;#x27;re in a very sketchy neighborhood where there might be a good house here, but maybe some hell hole next door that Youtube is more than happy to send you to... It occurs to me that while I loved the promise of an internet that offered all aspects of humanity, on a site to site basis, I don&amp;#x27;t think I want that, even for just me.&lt;p&gt;So now we&amp;#x27;re back to the PBS Kids Videos app as the only route my kids get to independently pick what they watch.  I&amp;#x27;m pretty much done with YouTube for now as far as my kids go just due to the rabbit holes of terrible things on there, and the one time they take a shot at kid friendly stuff, it&amp;#x27;s really doesn&amp;#x27;t empower me as a parent.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m really enjoying Odd Squad.</text></comment>
<story><title>Kidfluencers&apos; Rampant YouTube Marketing Creates Minefield for Google</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-20/kidfluencers-rampant-youtube-marketing-creates-minefield-for-google</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>supernova87a</author><text>Let&amp;#x27;s be clear about all this, and where the problem arises from.&lt;p&gt;Use case #1. If Youtube only allowed people to upload videos (whether for a fee, or no charge) and share them with people they know, there would be no issue.  You send videos to your friends.&lt;p&gt;Use case #2. If Youtube allowed advertisers to create videos and share those links via channels they control or purchase (e.g. paying a fee per view), there would be no issue.   Companies you know market to you by video.&lt;p&gt;The &lt;i&gt;self-created&lt;/i&gt; problem that Youtube has is that it wants to make money by charging for showing category #2 to those in category #1 who didn&amp;#x27;t ask for it.&lt;p&gt;Youtube &amp;#x2F; Google could choose not to have this problem tomorrow by not selling ads, recommending random videos to people, etc.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s their obligation to figure out this problem, and totally up to them how to solve it.   It&amp;#x27;s not some social or government problem to fix.</text></comment>