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1. COPPA Compliance & “Made for Kids” Requirement (Effective Early-January 2020)
One of the biggest changes in YouTube policy starting January 6, 2020 was related to children’s privacy and compliance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
YouTube was required to stop collecting personalized data from viewers of children’s content (meaning data used to show targeted ads).
Creators had to mark every video as either “Made for Kids” or “Not Made for Kids.” (MEDIANAMA)
For videos marked “Made for Kids”:
Targeted ads based on user data were no longer allowed.
YouTube disabled certain features that could collect information or encourage engagement from children — such as comments, notifications, save/playlists, and certain community features. (MEDIANAMA)
These changes were part of YouTube’s effort to follow the law after being fined by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for data collection practices involving children. (MEDIANAMA)
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Why this mattered:
Creators risked reduced revenue and engagement on videos marked “Made for Kids” because:
Ad revenue would come only from ads based on video topic, not viewer behavior.
Many interactive features (like comments or notifications) were removed or limited. (MEDIANAMA)
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2. Mandatory Video Audience Designation by Creators
Another key requirement in January 2020 was that all videos needed an audience designation, even if not for children:
If a video wasn’t marked by the creator, YouTube could assign the classification automatically using machine learning and penalize the channel (reduced views or restricted features). (routenote.com)
This meant creators had to understand and decide carefully whether their content was directed at kids. (routenote.com)
3. Broader Community Guidelines (General Policy in Early 2020)
While the COPPA changes were the biggest policy overhaul in January 2020, YouTube’s overall rules governing content remained based on its Community Guidelines (policies against harmful content such as hate speech, violence, and scams).
These guidelines generally require:
No violent, dangerous, or hateful content.
No spam/scams or deceptive practices.
Compliance with copyright rules and safe platform use.
Channels accumulating copyright strikes risking termination if they get too many violations.
(Note: community enforcement was intensified throughout 2020, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but these were extensions of existing guidelines rather than separate January changes.) (MEDIANAMA)
Summary — What Was Specific to January 2020
Area
What Changed
Impact
Children’s privacy
COPPA-driven changes, “Made for Kids” tagging required
Functional restrictions + ad revenue changes for kids-content
Audience designation
Mandatory creator classification of videos
Reduced reach or penalties if mislabelled
Engagement & features
Disabled comments/notifications on kids content
Lower interaction potential
Data collection
No personalized ads / data on kids’ videos
Less targeted advertising revenue for those videos
If you want, I can also compare how YouTube’s policy then (2020) compares to today’s policy (2025–2026) or explain how these changes affected creators’ revenue and analytics specifically.
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