Youtube just decided I'm a minor

[Aneka]

I got a notification when I visited the homepage telling me something along the lines of "We have concluded that you might be a minor and have changed your settings accordingly." This is a vague translation as I don't quite remember the exact words and I have the page set to German. I'm not even logged in and I haven't been there in a while.

Do they now have an algorythm to figure out their users' age based on watched vids and search queries? Well, good luck youtube.

Maybe I should watch some vids about arthritis and pretend to be a grandma. Hopefully they will reevaluate my age then.

 

[Suzette]

That seems high handed. I have never heard of such a thing. Can you change the setting back in google account settings? Be sure your birthdate refects your true age.
Go to myaccount.google.com
Under "Personal Info" you can change the birthdate. Be sure it reflects at least 21 years of age.
Since YouTube is owner by google your setting here will matter.

 

[Aneka]

That seems high handed. I have never heard of such a thing. Can you change the setting back in google account settings?

I will take a look at it later. Just wanted to look for some music and this message popped up. Maybe I should boycott them lol.

 

[Raggamuffin]

It's been a year or so now since Youtube blocked me from seeing stuff that's supposedly for adults etc. But I wasn't too keen on the idea of sending a photograph of my driver's license to Google.

Ed

 

[Aneka]

I will take a look at it later. Just wanted to look for some music and this message popped up. Maybe I should boycott them lol.

Just took a look. I'm over 21 years of age and I have stated my actual birth date on my google account. I also don't believe that google 'knows' if a user gives them the wrong birth date. Probably a guessing game to them.

 

[Aneka]

It's been a year or so now since Youtube blocked me from seeing stuff that's supposedly for adults etc. But I wasn't too keen on the idea of sending a photograph of my driver's license to Google.

Ed

Then it's as I thought. I used to have a facebook account and they demanded proof that my facebook name is my actual name. Proof in the form of my passport. It's a datamining business.

In Germany and probably other countries as well it's illegal to copy a passport, take a photo of it or to give it out of your own hands. So they demand of users what is illegal.

 

[oregano]

American law is more lax than European law on stuff like copying/scanning ID papers. But if they are really asking people to break their countries' laws in order to amass databases of passports, driver's licenses, and other ID's, they need to be sued. That's not easy in Europe which has extremely draconian civil lawsuit laws. In the US they'd be taken to the cleaners and some attorneys would be able to retire on the fees.

 

[Tom]

Is it possible this is a fake/scam to get you to reveal personnal info?

As a rule I don't give any personal info. I certainly wouldn't send scanned documents or pictures to any social media. If it was an important issue I would contact them separately to verify it was legit first and hopefully sort it out talking to/emailing a support rep.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

YouTube has an artificial intelligence program that directs users to other related content. "You might like this video". Based upon a users viewing the computer can gather data on you. In this case, the computer has determined that the age that you entered into your user account is not congruent with your viewing content.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I'm surprised it hasn't happened to me yet then. lol. I don't go in for gore or those videos with cruel pranks. I like watching cute animals and babies, light comedy, and music videos on YouTube.

It's also fun to watch fashion week, to see what kind of hideous shower curtains that the experts in New York and Milan insist that we all should be wearing.

When my daughter was little, we watched A LOT of cartoons on there too.

 

[Aneka]

It it possible this is a fake/scam to get you to reveal personnal info?

As a rule I don't give any personal info. I certainly wouldn't send scanned documents or pictures to any social media. If it was an important issue I would contact them separately to verify it was legit first and hopefully sort it out talking to/emailing a support rep.

I'm surprised it hasn't happened to me yet then. lol. I don't go in for gore or those videos with cruel pranks. I like watching cute animals and babies, light comedy, and music videos on YouTube.

It's also fun to watch fashion week, to see what kind of hideous shower curtains that the experts in New York and Milan insist that we all should be wearing.

When my daughter was little, we watched A LOT of cartoons on there too.

Me too I probably looked up lots of kids' content because I needed it for work.

 

[AGXStarseed]

Then it's as I thought. I used to have a facebook account and they demanded proof that my facebook name is my actual name. Proof in the form of my passport. It's a datamining business.

In Germany and probably other countries as well it's illegal to copy a passport, take a photo of it or to give it out of your own hands. So they demand of users what is illegal.

That's concerning.
How many people have unknowingly broken their homeland's laws without even realizing it?

 

[Metalhead]

I used to like the fact that YouTube was able to find other rap videos that were similar to the ones I watched regularly. But now that I am more aware of the data mining aspect of it, I like it somewhat less.

 

[Misery]

YouTube has an artificial intelligence program that directs users to other related content.

Aye, and this is quite possibly the single biggest problem with the site. It's not just that they have an AI to help users find stuff. It's that they have an AI that does LOTS of things so they, Youtube, dont have to.

And that absolutely includes almost all moderator/admin type actions. It's been a big problem for a long time now, because the thing is as good at being a Youtube admin as a coked-out squirrel would be at being an astronaut. Flying all over the place while gibbering madly, and hitting buttons, ALL the buttons, that sort of thing.

Youtube, to their total non-credit, never does anything to fix it... unless they get in trouble.

 

[Judge]

Not sure how Google/Youtube goes about determining the age of their users, but I can give you 170 million reasons why. For as invasive as they are about anyone accessing their sites, it's pretty clear that the FTC doesn't want them violating the privacy of minors without parental consent.

Justified or not, they are doing as such to keep the FTC off their backs. Still, it's unnerving to see this happen to legal adults. One thing for sure though, Google / YouTube is incredibly invasive when it comes to users privacy- or the lack thereof.

Luckily for me I use a utilities program called "Glary Utilities 5.0". It has one particular useful feature that purges your hard drive of various types of privacy trackers such websites leave their users with.There's a lot more to purge than just cookies or your browsing history. Especially when accessing streaming media.

Google and YouTube Will Pay Record $170 Million for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Law

 

[Aneka]

Update: Google is now actually asking me to confirm my age with a credit card or ID papers

You can wait a long time, Google '-_-

 

[Tom]

You can use mine

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I got a notification when I visited the homepage telling me something along the lines of "We have concluded that you might be a minor and have changed your settings accordingly." This is a vague translation as I don't quite remember the exact words and I have the page set to German. I'm not even logged in and I haven't been there in a while.

Do they now have an algorythm to figure out their users' age based on watched vids and search queries? Well, good luck youtube.

Maybe I should watch some vids about arthritis and pretend to be a grandma. Hopefully they will reevaluate my age then.

It may be what kinds of content you watch.

 

[Xerces Blue]

If they want to get on people's cases for assuming the wrong pronouns and whatever else they think is politically correct we can get on their case for assuming our age, ageism I think they call it.
It's the same male bovine excrement.

 

[SDRSpark]

Update: Google is now actually asking me to confirm my age with a credit card or ID papers

You can wait a long time, Google '-_-

This legitimately makes me angry. And a little fearful.