{"id":152370,"date":"2015-05-19T20:06:27","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T20:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=152370"},"modified":"2015-05-19T20:34:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T20:34:18","slug":"advocates-charge-google-deceiving-parents-content-youtube-kids-request-ftc-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/advocates-charge-google-deceiving-parents-content-youtube-kids-request-ftc-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates Charge Google with Deceiving Parents about Content on YouTube Kids, Request FTC Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2015\/05\/19\/advocates-charge-google-deceiving-parents-about-content-youtube-kids-request-ftc\">Common Dreams<\/a>) &#8211;\u00a0WASHINGTON &#8211; Two leading child and consumer advocacy groups have <a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=bvbwQQyM24rRmWSEnE5KfgL%2BIE7VYe9g\">filed an important update to their Federal Trade Commission complaint<\/a> against Google\u2019s YouTube Kids app for false and deceptive marketing. In a letter sent to the Commission today, the groups charged that Google is deceiving parents by marketing YouTube Kids as a safe place for children under five to explore when, in reality, the app is rife with videos that would not meet anyone\u2019s definition of \u201cfamily friendly.\u201d A review by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) has found a significant amount of content that would be extremely disturbing and\/or potentially harmful for young children to view, including:<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Explicit sexual language presented amidst cartoon animation<\/li>\n<li>Videos that model unsafe behaviors such as playing with lit matches, shooting a nail gun, juggling knives, tasting battery acid, and making a noose<\/li>\n<li>A profanity-laced parody of the film <em>Casino<\/em> featuring Bert and Ernie from <em>Sesame Street<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Graphic adult discussions about family violence, pornography, and child suicide<\/li>\n<li>Jokes about pedophilia and drug use<\/li>\n<li>Advertising for alcohol products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>CDD and CCFC <a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=bfsuqp315nKHLh3OTg51vr6lde2hHVzI\">provided a video<\/a> to the FTC today documenting an array of inappropriate content that can found on YouTube Kids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFederal law prevents companies from making deceptive claims that mislead consumers,&#8221; said Aaron Mackey, the coalition\u2019s attorney at Georgetown Law&#8217;s Institute for Public Representation. &#8220;Google promised parents that YouTube Kids would deliver appropriate content for children, but it has failed to fulfill its promise. Parents rightfully feel deceived by YouTube Kids.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Google claims that YouTube Kids was \u201cbuilt from the ground up with little ones in mind\u201d and is \u201cpacked full of age-appropriate videos.\u201d The app includes a search function that is voice-enabled for easy use for preschool children. Google says it uses \u201ca mix of automated analysis, manual sampling, and input from our users to categorize and screen out videos and topics that may make parents nervous.\u201d Google also assures parents that they \u201ccan rest a little easier knowing that videos in the YouTube Kids app are narrowed down to content appropriate for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, as the complaint explains:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Google does not, in fact, \u201cscreen out the videos that make parents nervous\u201d and its representations of YouTube Kids as a safe, child-friendly version of YouTube are deceptive. Parents who download the app are likely to expose their children to the very content they believed they would avoid by using the preschool version of YouTube. In addition to the unfair and deceptive marketing practices we identified in our initial request for an investigation, it is clear that Google is deceiving parents about the effectiveness of their screening processes and the content on YouTube Kids.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIn the rush to expand its advertising empire to preschoolers, Google has made promises about the content on YouTube Kids that it is incapable of keeping,\u201d said Josh Golin, Associate Director of CCFC. \u201cAs a parent, I was shocked to discover that an app that Google claims is safe for young children to explore includes so much inappropriate content from the Wild West of YouTube.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s letter is an update to <a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=sQz36%2Fv9qvw%2FQiYekCeWqAL%2BIE7VYe9g\">the advocates\u2019 April 7, 2015 FTC complaint<\/a> that charged Google with engaging in unfair and deceptive practices towards children and their parents. That complaint detailed how YouTube Kids featured ads and other marketing material that took advantage of children\u2019s developmental vulnerabilities. It also noted that the \u201cblending of children\u2019s programming content with advertising material on television has long been prohibited because it is unfair and deceptive to children. The fact that children are viewing the videos on a tablet or smart phone screen instead of on a television screen does not make it any less unfair and deceptive.\u201d The complaint also called on the FTC to address the failure by Google to disclose that many makers of so-called \u201cuser-generated\u201d videos featuring toys and candy have relationships with those products&#8217; manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same lack of responsibility Google displayed with advertising violations on YouTube Kids is also apparent in the content made available on the app,\u201d observed Dale Kunkel, Professor of Communication at University of Arizona. \u201cThere is a serious risk of harm for children who might see these videos. It\u2019s clear Google simply isn\u2019t ready to provide genuinely appropriate media products for children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Added Jeff Chester, executive director of CDD, \u201cGoogle gets an &#8216;F&#8217; when it comes to protecting America\u2019s youngest kids. The failure of the most powerful and technologically advanced media company to create a safe place for America\u2019s youngest kids requires immediate action by the FTC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s letter to the FTC is available at <a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=V3L%2B15nJoUKUk2mmafmvqS%2FjEK6rvG9x\">http:\/\/www.commercialfreechildhood.org\/youtubeletter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The coalition\u2019s original FTC complaint is available at <a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=X74NuDoegipA6ymhxTBCNwL%2BIE7VYe9g\">http:\/\/commercialfreechildhood.org\/sites\/default\/files\/youtubekidslettert.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The compilation of YouTube Kids video clips can be viewed at <a href=\"http:\/\/org.salsalabs.com\/dia\/track.jsp?v=2&amp;c=%2FL1UmwD02JBSS4XSNt8iNAL%2BIE7VYe9g\">https:\/\/vimeo.com\/127837914<\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>This piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Common Dreams) &#8211;\u00a0WASHINGTON &#8211; Two leading child and consumer advocacy groups have filed an important update to their Federal Trade Commission complaint against Google\u2019s YouTube Kids app for false and deceptive marketing. In a letter sent to the Commission today, the groups charged that Google is deceiving parents by marketing YouTube Kids as a safe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-152370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}