YouTube Kids app is still being criticized by consumer watchdog groups who insist that app makers, including Google, should keep their guidelines in parallel with those that are found in the TV industry.
While YouTube already announced changes to the app in a move to provide more information to parents on the app's features and the protections it has been designed to offer, the said groups believe that these changes are superficial.
According to the groups, the app contains advertising material which they deem as still excessive and deceptive in nature. Moreover, it doesn't meet the same guidelines found in the allowed advertising content on children's TV programs.
"Advertising to young children, who do not have the cognitive ability to distinguish between programming and advertising, is deceptive and unfair to children," said Angela Campbell, the lawyer representing the two groups, Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC).
The guidelines being referred to by the groups are those which are based on FCC regulations that cover children's programs on cable, broadcast or satellite TV. The regulations, on its part, don't allow the same advertising content found in the YouTube Kids app. Some of these restrictions include disallowed host selling, the separation of program material from commercials, and guidelines that determine time limits on the airtime frequency of commercials.
YouTube Kids' commercial policies, while it prohibits the advertising of certain products, are only applicable to paid ads. These are videos that run between 30 to 60 seconds long and are normally displayed prior to the child's selected video.
Campbell adds that such type of ads make up just a tiny fraction of the ones found on YouTube Kids. In other words, the majority of the ads is not covered by the limits set by the FCC. In fact, the YouTube Kids app includes actual TV commercials, promotional videos produced by companies and videos that are embedded with paid product placements and host-selling.
The watchdog groups are concerned that apps are now becoming a real alternative to TV viewing with younger kids adopting quickly to mobile technology. They are also concerned that the current technology now allows contents to be mirrored on the big screen, making the experience akin to what one gets from viewing on TV.
"We believe it is ludicrous that Google shouldn't have to play by the rules just because YouTube Kids is an app," said Josh Goling, CCFC Executive Director.
