FTC’s Smith Defends YouTube Interest-Based Ads; Consumer Group Urges COPPA Recusal
The FTC heard concern YouTube could become a "desert of crap" without interest-based advertising, said Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith Monday. The agency is collecting comments, due Oct. 23, as it reviews the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (see…
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1907250051). Staff has heard that the inability to engage in interest-based advertising on YouTube could make content creation uneconomic for certain creators of high-quality content, he said at a Better Business Bureau National Advertising Division conference. The loss of high quality child-oriented content on general audience platforms like YouTube “because of the operation of our rule would concern us,” he said. Center for Digital Democracy Executive Director Jeff Chester said Smith should recuse himself from the COPPA review, claiming bias in favor of industry: “I am shocked at Mr. Smith's bias here in favor of allowing digital marketers to collect more data from kids. That’s before he has heard experts invited to speak on Oct. 7 as well as written comments submitted for the record.” There’s “no bias, and no prejudgment,” Smith told us. The remarks in New York were meant to spur interest in the upcoming workshop and issues under consideration, including widely reported comments from content creators, he said. The agency welcomes input from CDD, he said.