Stating that children's use of social media should be strictly controlled, experts draw attention to the risks especially on the video sharing platform YouTube. Experts point out that accounts managed by parents for profit-making purposes pose a threat to children's identity development, privacy and private life.
Dr. Gül Esra Atalay from Üsküdar University Faculty of Communication, Department of New Media and Journalism, co-authored a book with 24 authors from 12 different countries titled "Critical Global Semiotics: Understanding Sustainable Transformational Citizenship" (Critical Global Semiotics: Understanding Sustainable Transformational Citizenship", she drew attention to the effects of YouTube on children.
Prof. Dr. Gül Esra Atalay wrote a book titled "New Age Child Labor in Turkey: Child Influencers on YouTube" (New Generation Child Labor in Turkey: Child Influencers on YouTube).
Pointing out that the control of social media channels is much more unlimited compared to traditional media, Atalay stated that this situation affects children very much and said, "Social media are platforms based on the content produced by users and the control of the content shared here is much more limited than traditional media. Anyone who can access the internet and the necessary technologies can have a social media account. Unfortunately, this includes children."
The number of child users is increasing rapidly
Noting that the lower limit of user age determined by social media platforms is 13 for Turkey as in many countries, Prof. Dr. Gül Esra Atalay said, "However, it is seen that children are active on social media at much younger ages. Especially on the YouTube social media platform, which is a video-based platform, the number of channels where children are used is increasing both in the world and in Turkey."
Children are seen as a profit gate
Prof. Dr. Lecturer Gül Esra Atalay said, "Child YouTuber accounts managed by parents for earning profit pose a threat to children's identity development, privacy and private life. Faced with the pressure to shoot two to three videos a day to keep the interest of followers alive, children are deprived of valuable time that they should spend on play and education. Another part of the problem is that in these activities, children are both earning advertising revenue based on viewership rates and being used as influencers to promote various brands and products. There is an almost unspoken child labor and therefore labor exploitation on YouTube," he warned.
Precautions should be taken
Reminding that last September, the United States Federal Trade Commission fined YouTube 170 million dollars for violating children's privacy, Dr. Faculty Member Gül Esra Atalay said, "Following this development, a few weeks ago YouTube announced that from 2020, YouTube channels for children will be subject to the American Coppa, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Accordingly, personalized ads will no longer be shown to viewers on children's channels. Viewers will also not be able to comment on children's channels. Although these developments are positive, they do not seem sufficient for the protection of children used on YouTube channels."
Parents need to raise awareness
Prof. Dr. Faculty Member Gül Esra Atalay stated that children becoming content producers in these uncontrolled channels, taking on the responsibilities of promoting products and earning money, and being followed by a mass of followers are also pregnant with problems in terms of personality development and said, "It seems difficult to reach a solution only with the steps to be taken by platforms such as YouTube. Parents need to raise awareness on this issue, children need to be warned about this issue in schools and criminal sanctions need to be imposed on those who use children in such activities."