• YouTube will soon remove personalized ads from children’s content after the Federal Trade Commission determined that it had violated children’s privacy laws by placing targeted ads over kids’ content.
• Following YouTube’s announcement, creators like Jeremy Johnston of J House Vlogs are now bringing their concerns directly before the Federal Trade Commission during their open window, which closes Dec. 9.
• Among other concerns, creators are asking the FTC to provide a better definition of “child-directed” content out of fear that they may still lose ads on video that may be deemed “attractive,” but not necessarily directed at children.

YouTubers Lobby FTC

Children’s content creators and family bloggers on YouTube are lobbying against upcoming changes to an online child privacy law, which they say will affect the quality of their videos and how those videos make money.

As of Thursday afternoon, a Change.org petition arguing against the changes has attracted more than 38,000 signatures. The petition was started by Jeremy Johnston who, along with his wife Kendra, run the family vlogging channel J House Vlogs.

In September, YouTube announced that it would be changing the way it displays ads on children’s content. The changes are meant to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act after the Federal Trade Commission and New York Attorney General Letitia James accused YouTube of illegally collecting personal information from children to show them targeted ads.

Regarding ads, YouTube uses two types: general and personalized ads. General ads appear regardless of a user’s viewing history, but personalized ads look at a user’s viewing history to present products or services a user may be more interested in. 

Because of the changes to COPPA, YouTube said it will remove all personalized ads on children’s content in January. The FTC also said it would hear public comments until Oct. 23 before enforcing new COPPA guidelines.

As a result, Johnston has lobbied the Federal Trade Commission in an attempt to add exceptions to children’s content creators. 

Johnston Speaks with Rogue Rocket

In an interview with Rogue Rocket, Johnston said he filed a request to extend the FTC’s public comments period until Dec. 9, which was later approved.

Johnston told Rogue Rocket he made the filing after meeting with the FTC. During the meeting, he said the commission was unaware that personalized and general ads paid different amounts to creators. 

While Johnston said he thought the FTC was legitimately trying to do what’s best for children, he also said FTC was largely unaware of creators’ concerns beforehand. 

Regarding his own channel, Johnston said he and his wife have already decided to pull the plug on a planned children’s channel called J House Jr.

While he said big creators can find other ways to generate money, through brand deals or other projects, he also said losing personalized ads can be devastating for channels.

“That isn’t going to be available for the small creators in the future, and that’s a big reason why I’m speaking out,” he told Rogue Rocket. “I wouldn’t be doing all of this if it was just about my channel. But I’m considering other people like me or other people five years, 10 years from now who want to get going. I’m so grateful that when I took that leap of faith to say ‘I’m going to do YouTube full-time’ that ad revenue made that possible.”  

Although Johnston said he understands the need for parents to have control in their kids’ privacy online, he said the new changes won’t do that. 

“We care about children’s privacy,” he said. “We are just saying that this regulation is going to do more harm than good. I think it’s really important that we all recognize that the majority of parents are letting their children watch YouTube main.”  

“We’re wanting parents to continue making that choice with the government coming in and overriding the parents’ decision,” he continued. “If parents were really concerned with personalized ads, it raises the question, why are they all letting their children watch YouTube main?” 

What’s in the Petition?

Specifically, the creators and supporters who’ve signed that petition are asking the FTC to provide a statement on how COPPA will be enforced against creators, as well as clarify the definition of “child-directed” content. 

One major concern for creators is the specific use of the language “child-directed.” Currently, the FTC is debating whether or not to add “child-attractive” content, ie. content that is marketed to a general audience but could still be considered friendly for children to watch. 

The petition also requests that the FTC delay enforcement any changes until it finishes reviewing COPPA.

It ends by asking the FTC to encourage parents to use apps like YouTube Kids instead of forcing creators to turn off personalized ads.

According to Bloomberg, YouTube Kids currently only attracts about 1% of YouTube’s total audience even though kids’ content is the most-viewed on YouTube.

Why Is This Important to Viewers?

While some viewers find ads annoying, many creators make money by placing ads in front of their videos.

According to Tubefilter, general ads can bring in anywhere from 60 to 90% less than personalized ads. Creators fear that the loss of revenue could, in turn, hurt the quality of their videos. 

In fact, Johnston says a lot of the money made from J House Vlogs videos goes back into making quality content on the channel.

In addition to that, creators also worry their content could be fined for violating COPPA, with that fine being up to $42,530. Creators like Johnston and Derral Eves say that these concerns could also result in more mature content on YouTube. 

See what others are saying: (Bloomberg) (Tubefilter)

• Critics are slamming beauty YouTuber Jaclyn Hill for appearing at her Haloween party this weekend as a “canceled” version of herself. 
• Some thought she was making light of her recent lipstick scandal and mocking customers who were upset with her over the failed product launch. 
• Hill addressed the backlash, saying the costume was not about her customers or her lipsticks but instead was a comment about the community and cancel culture.

Jaclyn HIll’s Costume 

Beauty YouTuber Jaclyn Hill has responded to backlash over her Halloween costume – a “canceled” version of herself. 

Hill hosted a party at her temporary home in Los Angeles, California Saturday night, which was packed with dozens of her friends and fellow YouTubers like James Charles and Nikita Dragun. 

But the main talk of the party online was Hill’s costume. The beauty guru wore a black dress with red letters that spelled out “SHE’S CANCELED” and “JACLYN HILL IS CANCELED.” She also sported some fake wounds and blood to add to the Halloween look.

Many found this costume to be a risky choice considering the recent scandal surrounding her lipstick line launch this past June. Customers complained of lumpy lipsticks embedded with hairs or what they thought might have been shards of plastic. Others believed that she might have been selling old lipsticks that were moldy and unsafe to use.

Hill later denied those claims and apologized to her customers. She gave explanations for defective products, like cotton gloves used in production causing the hairs and high temperatures during shipping affecting consistency. The whole ordeal came to an end when she issued refunds, though she never recalled the product as many had asked and promised they were still safe to use. 

She wasn’t the only one who was inspired by the lipstick controversy. Drama YouTuber Sebastian Williams even appeared at the event wearing “Jaclyn Hill’s harry lipsticks as horns.”

Mixed Reactions 

A lot of social media users saw Hill’s costume as a funny way to own her controversy and poke fun at herself. 

LOVE your costume! @Jaclynhill definitely appropriate for the cancel culture these days lol so creative girl, lovee ❤️ pic.twitter.com/V2i6CnM4kZ

— Gibson Girl (@CdnBrat68) October 27, 2019

Others, however, took issue with her making light of the situation. Some called it tacky, while others argued that it was disrespectful towards customers who had been let down by her lipstick launch. 

poor taste..customers are the victims yet shes acting like she is…this tacky costume shows she learned nothing fr lipstickgate & in fact thinks she did nothing wrong..if she put as much concern into properly handling things as she does herself she may not have cancelled herself

— ησ ѕнα∂є נα∂є (@No_Shade_Jade) October 27, 2019

Wow, she really out here calling OUT and MOCKING everyone from her fans to paying customers to people holding her accountable?! 🤔 I guess if you ignore wrong doings and pretend it never happened then life is good! #LikeItNeverHappened

— Amber Gifford (@ambular1304) October 27, 2019

Jaclyn Hill Defends Costume

After seeing some of the backlash, Hill took to Twitter to explain that her costume wasn’t aimed at her customers. 

“This costume has NOTHING to do with my fans or customers,” she tweeted. “It has to do with ‘cancel culture’ that has become so popular. I adore my subscribers & they know that!”

She made a similar statement in another post saying, “A lot of people are missing the point. This has nothing to do with my lipsticks. That’s a whole different situation. This costume was supposed to be about the community. About Influencers & cancel culture. But people can read into it however they want obviously.” 

In an Instagram post, she wrote a more detailed caption about the intentions behind her costume, saying, “Over the last several years the internet has become more & more cruel & has developed what we now call “cancel culture” not one day has gone by in over 2 years where I have not seen ‘you’re canceled’ online.”

“I wanted to create a look showing the glam side of this industry & the ugly,” she added. “So here is it. You want me canceled? You got it baby. And I know my “haters” are going to HATE this costume. But that’s okay, I love you anyway.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by J A C L Y N 😜 (@jaclynhill) on Oct 28, 2019 at 4:05pm PDT

Hill also address a less serious element of the costume that critics seemed to also take issue with: spelling. One tweet went viral, slamming the beauty guru for using one “L” instead of two on her costume. 

She responded to that with a Google search of the proper way to spell the term, which notes that both are correct, but one “L” is more favored by Americans while two are more commonly used in British English.  

In response to the viral tweet, she wrote “OMGGGG! Over 100k favorites??!! Does this mean im famous!!? I love my illiterate ass.” Then in a reply to fan defending her, she wrote “I have to laugh at all these tweets about my ‘misspelling’ people will find anything!! Even when google & the dictionary proves it correct, they still gotta reach.” 

See what others are saying: (E! News) (PopBuzz) (Insider)

• YouTuber MrBeast has launched a campaign to plant 20 million trees in celebration of reaching 20 million YouTube subscribers.
• The #TeamTrees project was created in collaboration with the Arbor Day Foundation, and for every $1 donation, the organization will plant one tree.
• Critics argued there are more immediate ways to address climate change, but MrBeast defended his project and the Arbor Day Foundation explained it was working with partners to plant trees responsibly.

#TeamTrees 

To celebrate reaching 20 million subscribers on YouTube, MrBeast is spearheading a massive campaign to plant 20 million trees.

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is well known on YouTube for charitable stunts and crazy challenges involving huge sums of money. Earlier this year, a subscriber came up with the idea for MrBeast to plant 20 million trees, a request that quickly went viral.

In his latest video announcing the project, MrBeast said his fans spammed him with the request so often that he had to take on the challenge. He kicked off the campaign in Oregon by planting hundreds of trees with friends and fans in a large field. YouTuber Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer also joined in by using drones to plant trees. 

But in order to reach his goal, MrBeast has collaborated with the Arbor Day Foundation – one of the largest nonprofit conservation organizations dedicated to planting trees. Together they launched the #TeamTrees website, where supporters can donate to the cause. For every $1 raised, one tree will be planted in an area of high need around the globe. 

#TeamTrees hopes to reach its $20,000,000 goal by January 1, 2020. According to the site’s FAQ section, trees will be planted throughout 2020, with a completion goal of December 2022. 

MrBeast pledged more than $100,000 himself and received support from other huge creators. On October 25 you might have seen dozen and dozens of videos flooding YouTube about the project, dominating the trending page, homepages, and recommendations. 

Videos were shared by creators like Pewdiepie, Jacksepticeye, The Infographics Show, Guava Juice, The Try Guys, and several others. Huge donations were made by influencers like Jeffree Star, Ninja, Simply Nailogical, and Doctor Mike. 

The list of supporters goes on and on, including big names like Safiya Nygard, The Slow Mo Guys, Marquees Brownlee, Jake Paul, and Casey Neitstat. According to The Verge, more than 600 YouTubers have expressed their support. YouTube even confirmed that they would cover all transaction fees for donations made on the platform. 

Criticism of the Project 

Despite massive praise for the campaign, MrBeast has seen some criticism from those who argue he should find more effective ways to fight climate change. 

Some are specifically pointing out that it will take years before these new trees can make a considerable impact. 

MrBeast responded to those comments saying, “Just to be clear we all realize 20 million trees won’t fix climate change. But at the end of the day 20 million more trees is better then 0! We want to take action because doing nothing is how we got here!”

Long term survival is key for trees to have an impact on our planet, so there must also be an effort to protect and nurture these new trees in order for them to help the environment. The Arbor Day Foundation’s director of public relations Danny Cohn said that some of the funds raised will be used to help maintain all of the trees planted. 

“We’re just not planting and walking away,” he said.  He explained to The Verge that the partners who work with the organization are all required to have plans to help their trees thrive.

The organization said that it’s not sure what the survival rate is for its trees since the foundation itself does not do the planting. But they say the US Forest Service, which it partners with, estimates a 3 percent mortality rate per year.

There have also been concerns that too many trees will be planted in the wrong places, which can actually be damaging to some ecosystems  The Arbor Day Foundation addressed those concerns by noting that it partners with agencies like the US Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the National Association of State Foresters to ensure that they’re planting trees responsibly. 

“That’s the first thing: right tree, right place,” Cohn said. “People are very concerned about invasive species, and we are very concerned about that as well.”

“We know that 20 million trees isn’t going to cure climate change, but the point here is to end this decade on a super strong note,” YouTuber Mark Rober said in a private campaign video to other creators. “It’s a constructive way to send a message to the politicians, ‘it’s freaking time to do something about climate change.’ Plus we just really love trees so this is like a fist pump to mother Earth.”

As of Monday morning, the campaign has earned about $5.7 million to plant trees around the globe, with that number steadily rising. 

See what others are saying: (Insider) (The Verge) (Dextero)