- I've got a question for you to kick off this video.
Given the FTC and COPPA rulings, how is that going
to affect your YouTube journey?
Are you going to get your channel in order
and continue to eat, sleep, create, and repeat
or are you so dismayed by the rulings and terrified
at the possible consequences for you personally
that you're going to stop YouTube
and even delete your channel?
Let us know in the comments below, and with that question
being asked, there may be a third option.
- [Narrator] VidIQ.
- [Woman] VidIQ.
- [Narrator] Vidiq.com
- Hello, I'm Rob, and welcome back to VidIQ,
the YouTube tool and channel aimed to educate you
on your YouTube journey.
To keep up-to-date with all the latest YouTube tips,
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of our content.
(ringing)
As always folks, school is now in session.
Every time I summarize this story, I try and make it
more efficient than the last time, so here goes.
There's a rule called COPPA that the FTC enforce
and YouTube have been breaking that rule.
They've been hit with a huge fine and now they're asking
all video creators to sort out their content
as made for kids or not.
If you don't, you face a potential channel termination
and fines personally liable to you.
Whoo, was that fast enough?
There's links in the video description and over here as well
to get a much more in depth look
at everything that's going on.
To be honest, I think that summary was longer
than the last time I did it.
Anyway, let's carry on.
Let's start with the worst-case scenario.
You're done with YouTube, you want to make sure
there's no chance of the FTC coming after you.
In that case, you'll want to delete your channel.
To do this, click on your profile image
in the top right-hand corner of most YouTube screens
and go to settings.
At the bottom of this screen on the left-hand side,
you'll see advanced settings link, which when you click
on that you will see this delete channel option.
Click on it and.
(exploding)
Now yeah, it goes without saying that we're getting
into some serious business here, so you do all this
at your own risk.
(beeping)
You will need to reconfirm your account password
at this point which, once done, will display this simple
yet potentially life-changing screen.
If you click on I want to permanently delete my content,
YouTube will give you the low down on what's about to happen
and that includes deleting all of your videos,
removing all of the subscribers from your channel,
deleting comments, replies, messages, and search history.
If you want to ensure that your content is not only not made
for kids, but not made for anyone
because it no longer exists, then this is the option for you
but what if you're not ready to do that?
What if you could just hide your channel for a while
and give all of this FTC, COPPA, and made for kids business
a chance to settle down?
Well, that's where this option comes into play.
Essentially, your entire YouTube activity
will be made private.
None of your content or activity will be viewable,
and if you want to upload new videos,
comment on other people's videos, or use playlists,
you will have to re-enable your channel.
So if you are determined to leave YouTube at least
for the time being, give your future self the option
of returning with your contact intact by hiding the channel
instead of deleting it.
Do bear in mind, however, that you will permanently lose
any comments you have using this account.
When you do this, it will be as
if your channel never existed even to you.
It will ask you to create a new channel, and if you go
to the YouTube Studio, you won't find anything there either.
To re-enable your account, click on your profile picture
and click on create channel.
Choose let's get started, and then make sure to click
on use your name.
If you use a custom name,
this will create a brand new channel.
This form will appear next which you can go through
or check later.
Ultimately, you should end up on your channel page,
and if you check your YouTube studio, now you should find
all of the videos that were previously there.
There are quite a lot of things to consider
before you take this action.
Before you decide to hide your channel,
and if you're determined to do that, then you at least want
to set your channel default for made for kids
or not so that when you come back to YouTube,
at least you have that setting in place.
Whether it's in six months' time, a years' time,
make sure you have that set before you hide your channel.
I also want to add a small disclaimer that I'm not entirely
sure what's going to happen regarding the FTC
and COPPA with all videos, let alone the channel
that you've set to private or hidden.
It's still possible that YouTube may automatically go
through your content with machine learning to categorize
your content, and the FTC might get in contact with you,
although it's very unlikely if your content is not viewable
at the beginning of 2020.
Also, I have no idea what implications this will have
on your channel as a whole.
Imagine getting 1,000's of views per day,
then hiding your channel, and suddenly getting nothing
for months, and then reopening your channel.
There's a YouTube algorithm there, and whether it's gonna
treat your channel the same as it did beforehand
and you just start getting all those views again,
I honestly don't know.
Given the audience perception, if your channel suddenly
disappears, are they likely to return in a few months' time
when you come back onto YouTube?
Chances are, they probably won't know you exist,
and they've moved onto something else.
So that is something to bear in mind as well.
With the exception of deleting your entire YouTube channel
forever, I believe this is the most extreme reaction
and action to FTC and COPPA.
Think long and hard before you decide to do this,
and do it at your own risk.
If I were to take a personal, non-VidIQ opinion on this,
and I can do because I still have my own tech channel,
what I would do is research this as much as possible,
go through my content, correctly identify as made for kids
or not, and if you are a kids channel, then just be honest.
You may see a immediate impact on your channel,
but at least you're running on the right side
of these YouTube and COPPA laws, and then as the time flows
and we all learn a little bit more about what's going on,
we can start to refine our channels,
but to just do a hard stop, dead, and give up,
I think is the worst possible option.
We've had the adpocalypse, we've had net neutrality,
we've had Article 13, and all of the worst-case scenarios
that have been predicted for all of these things
have not come to fruition.
Now, I'm not for one second suggesting
that this is not a huge threat to the YouTube platform.
I think this is the biggest direct challenge
to video creators on the platform since YouTube was born,
but if you let this or any other obstacle get in the way
of your creative expression of a message that you want
to spread to a global audience and impact people
in a meaningful way, then as I said before,
I think your mentality on YouTube is misguided.
The FTC and COPPA affects tools that you have.
It affects your ability to earn revenue, yes,
but ultimately, does it stop you from being able
to broadcast to the world for free?
I still think fundamentally the answer is no.
The choice is still in your hands, and for some of you,
yes, this may be the final straw, and you're right,
the YouTube platform is no longer suitable for your content.
There are alternatives.
Twitch, Instagram, Twitter.
Maybe we do need a disruptor in the video platform space
to compete with YouTube, but the last thing I want you
to feel is paralyzed.
Make a decision and act on it.
Whether it's to hide your channel, delete your channel,
or continue to make YouTube videos,
I know I will still be watching.
As always, we've got a lot more material on this subject
that you can watch over here.
Thank very much for watching as always, and of course,
enjoy the rest of your video making day.