The U.S. government is investigating YouTube for allegedly violating children’s privacy.
The complaints contended that YouTube, which is owned by Google, failed to protect kids who used the streaming-video service and improperly collected their data in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a 1998 law known as COPPA that forbids the tracking and targeting of users younger than age 13.
In a blog post today, YouTube announced new policies when it comes to minors. YouTube bans minors from live streaming without an adult present, and comments on videos featuring minors have been disabled.
The vast majority of videos featuring minors on YouTube, including those referenced in recent news reports, do not violate our policies and are innocently posted — a family creator providing educational tips, or a parent sharing a proud moment. But when it comes to kids, we take an extra cautious approach towards our enforcement and we’re always making improvements to our protections.
Relentless Doppelgänger is a 24/7 YouTube livestream that features death metal created by AI.
The deep learning behind the YouTube channel is trained on samples of a real death metal band called Archspire, hailing from Canada. These real audio snippets are fed through the SampleRNN neural network to try and create realistic imitations…SampleRNN is smart enough to know when it’s produced an audio clip that’s good enough to pass for the genuine article – and as a result it knows which part of its neural network to tweak and strengthen.
I think it sounds pretty good. \m/
Apple has created a new Apple TV YouTube channel. You’ll see trailers for upcoming shows and movies, behind the scenes clips, and more.
On Tuesday, a woman named Wanda Maximoff tweeted a warning to parents about a “Momo’ that encourages kids to kill themselves.
YouTube has disabled comments on videos featuring minors, launched a new comment classifier, and terminated channels that endangered children.
First, YouTube inadvertently helped pedophiles find underage content. Now, the YouTube Kids app shows kids how to commit suicide.
Bryan Chaffin and Charlotte Henry join host Kelly Guimont to discuss when algorithms fail, as well as the Apple/Goldman Sachs credit card.
Advertisers pulled out of YouTube over reports suggesting a pedophile ring was active on YouTube. The company has removed over 400 channels.
YouTube is making it harder to find conspiracy videos on its platform, a move that adds fuel to the conspiracy fire.
At&T, one of the biggest marketers in the U.S., is back advertising on YouTube after a nearly 2-year hiatus. The company removed all its adverts from the video platform in 2017. It said Friday that it was satisfied that YouTube had worked to stop its adverts appearing next to disturbing or extremist content. At&T’s Chief Brand Officer, Fiona Carter, spoke with New York Times and emphasized that her firm demanded “a near-zero chance of our advertising appearing next to objectionable content.” That standard now appears to have been met.
The decision reflects the progress that Google-owned YouTube has made with advertisers in the 22 months since a number of them discovered that some of their ads were appearing during, or before, videos promoting hate speech, terrorism and other disturbing content. AT&T was among the first companies that stopped paying to advertise on YouTube, telling it that they wouldn’t return until it made improvements.
The guidelines are in response to popular challenges that imitate a Netflix movie called Bird Box.
Weed firms are using online influencers to get around rules that prohibit the marketing of cannabis, even in U.S. states where the drug is legal. These influencers tend to be young women, who post on Instagram and YouTube, according to a report in Wired. Content can range from confessional videos to product reviews. Even though YouTube said it prohibits content around regulated substances like marijuana and removes the videos when it discovers them, firms marketing the products are benefiting from the influencers’ work.
For marketing agencies and companies selling cannabis products, influencers have been a boon – a creative way to get around regulations, with the added impression of authenticity. Typically, the more people that are looking at your product, or your posts, the better. But as public and legal attitudes to cannabis have shifted, the subcultures immersed in it are being subject to more scrutiny than before.
Plenty of pirated content is available on the platform, and some accounts are asking for donations.
Carpool Karaoke ruled the UK in 2018, but users were less impressed with the video platform’s Rewind 2018 video.
Bryan Chaffin and John Martellaro join host Kelly Guimont to chat about the Apple TV 4K as a gift and YouTube’s programming shifts.
YouTube is changing strategy and moving away from scripted programming and will refocus on advertising instead.
What will it take to make online or app-based voting safe, secure, and reliable? Bryan Chaffin and Jeff Gamet are joined by John Kheit to discuss the future of voting. They also explore the idea of corporate platforms (i.e. private platforms) becoming so big that they become synonymous with the public square and subject to the First Amendment. Then Bryan goes off on a weird tangent about how cool Patrick Stewart’s new episode of Star Trek could be if Jean-Luc Picard was a broken and bitter man. Good times!
A science YouTuber who pulls science stunts, has apparently been secretly working for Apple. Specifically, a special projects group.
There’s an app called SongShift that lets you transfer Apple Music playlists to other services. Supported services include Apple Music, Deezer, Discogs, HypeMachine, LastFM, Napster, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube. You can “shift” complete playlists from one streaming service to another, and automatically keep all of your playlists synced with each other. I’ve heard some Apple customers say that when they unsubscribe from Apple Music, then re-subscribe later on, none of their playlists and content is saved. I’ve never unsubscribed yet so I haven’t run into this issue, but it sounds like SongShift can help in these cases. App Store: SongShift – Free
Adobe just unveiled a new cross-platform video editor and publishing app called Project Rush for YouTube and social networks.
The service is now available in 80 markets in the United States, meaning it covers 80% of Americans.
By launching another YouTube channel, Apple is admitting it is still behind in the video game.
Videos cover things like, “How to print from your iPhone or iPad,” “How to take a screenshot on your iPhone or iPad,” and “How to update iOS.”
