YouTube app ‘targets kids with unfair ads’, say activists

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YouTube app ‘targets kids with unfair ads’, say activists

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 08 April, 2015, 10:39pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 08 April, 2015, 10:39pm

Associated Press in Washington

Google is releasing a sanitized YouTube app just for kids.

The new YouTube Kids mobile app targets young children with unfair and deceptive advertising and should be investigated, consumer advocates told the US Federal Trade Commission.

Google introduced the app in February as a "safer" place for kids to explore videos as it was restricted to "family-focused content". But the activists said in a letter that the app was so stuffed with ads that it was hard to differentiate between entertainment and commercials. One example is a video of Disney's Frozen characters who appear as dolls inside a toy McDonald's, eating ice cream and drinking Sprite.

The activists say digital media should be subject to the same rules as television, which limits commercial content on kids' programming. "As a consumer, you should have the right to know who is trying to persuade you," said Angela Campbell of the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown Law, who provided legal counsel to the coalition.

In a statement, YouTube said: "We ... strongly disagree with their contentions, including the suggestion that no free, ad-supported experience for kids will ever be acceptable. We disagree and think that great content shouldn't be reserved for only those families who can afford it."