The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.5 FTC Calls Youtubers "Fish In Barrel", Ryan Toys Review Targeted, David Dobrik, & Brexit

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you're having a fantastic Thursday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show and let's just jump into it. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is another story involving kids-directed content on YouTube, the FTC, and the situation in general just becoming bigger. Now yesterday, as you might remember, we talked about YouTube settling with the FTC. They're having to pay a record $170 million. They have these massive changes coming to the site in the next four months. One of the most notable changes is that a lot of content

Starting point is 00:00:25 geared towards children is about to be demonetized on a crazy level. But one of the big things there with that situation is that the allegations and the complaint was geared towards YouTube and Google. But that doesn't mean that it's the end of the story and that individual channels and companies are safe. And the reason I say that is that the non-profit

Starting point is 00:00:41 watchdog truth in advertising is going after one of the largest and possibly one of the most profitable channels on YouTube. And that being Ryan ToysReview. Yesterday the New York Times reported that Truth in Advertising had filed an FTC complaint, quote, "'On the same day that Google, which owns YouTube, "'agreed to pay a $170 million fine as part of a settlement.'" Although looking into it, I think the New York Times

Starting point is 00:00:59 got their timing wrong. And I say that because on TruthinAdvertising.org, they published an article on August 29th titled, "'Ryan Toys Review Targets Preschoolers "'in Violation of FTC Law'," where they say they filed this FTC complaint, then linking to a document dated August 28th, which, hey, ultimately doesn't change the full report,

Starting point is 00:01:14 but the timing here is notable and important, so I just wanna make sure that is correct. The main point, that FTC complaint reportedly "'accused the channel's administrators "'of deceiving children through sponsored videos "'that often have the look and feel of organic content. According to Truth in Advertising, nearly 90% of the Ryan Toys review videos

Starting point is 00:01:30 have included at least one paid product recommendation aimed at preschoolers, a group that they say is too young to distinguish between a commercial and a review. And that distinguish argument is one of the key things here. As explained in a New York Times article on this, Josh Gollin, who's the executive director of the campaign for a commercial-Free Childhood,

Starting point is 00:01:45 reportedly said many children do not recognize advertising until they are eight or nine years old. Some videos on YouTube channels like Ryan Toys Review have noted sponsored content in small type that appears briefly, he said, or through a voiceover thank you to the retailer or manufacturer that provided products. And Gollin goes on to argue,

Starting point is 00:01:59 a five-year-old isn't going to understand that Ryan's talking about the toys because Target is paying him to talk about the toys. There may be some disclosure, but disclosure isn't meaningful to a child that young. Now as far as the other side of this, Ryan's father released a statement saying, "'The well-being of our viewers

Starting point is 00:02:11 "'is always a top priority for us, "'and we strictly follow all platforms' terms of service "'and all existing laws and regulations, "'including advertising disclosure requirements.'" And adding, "'As the streaming space continues to quickly grow and evolve, "'we support efforts by lawmakers, "'industry representatives, and regulators such as the FTC to continuously evaluate

Starting point is 00:02:27 and update existing guidelines and lay new ground rules to protect both viewers and creators." So, you know, probably a statement from his lawyer, but you get it. And ultimately, that is where we are with this story right now. And I will say it's one, gonna be interesting to see what happens with Ryan Toys review

Starting point is 00:02:39 and their kind of network of channels, as well as is this gonna be kind of the first of many FTC complaints against other channels now that this body blow has been delivered thanks to this FTC settlement with YouTube. And as far as my reaction to this, and hey, I could be completely wrong. Based off of what we've seen just from the past 36 hours,

Starting point is 00:02:55 it feels like the money printing press that is child-focused content is in jeopardy and likely going away. It's hard for me to see a world where at least 95% of these channels are not completely decimated. In the next four months, most of the ads on those channels will be going away. It's hard for me to see a world where at least 95% of these channels are not completely decimated. In the next four months, most of the ads on those channels will be going away. Additionally, those channels will no longer get

Starting point is 00:03:11 certain features like notifications, the ability to have a community page where maybe you could link out to things that you're selling. Also on that note, they would no longer be able to have the merch shelf, which has been very profitable for a number of creators. Additionally, I personally believe that we are going to see more of these FTC complaints

Starting point is 00:03:25 against child focused content. Additionally, with seeing an individual channel targeted with an FTC complaint that might open the flood gates or at the very least scare advertisers and channels from doing anything there. I mean, we're looking at a brand new age here. I mean, honestly, and while this probably doesn't affect like 90% of you, this is arguably going to be

Starting point is 00:03:41 the biggest shift in this entertainment medium in a long time. And where I'll end this story that final point that I was I was kind of arguing there At the end is with this clip that we came across from the FTC news conference yesterday And we also think that YouTube has strong incentives to police its platform both to avoid future enforcement actions by the FTC but also because it's offering this platform to content creators and if the FTC, but also because it's offering this platform to content creators. And if the FTC is bringing independent piecemeal actions against content creators for violating COPPA, that may discourage content creators from posting content on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:04:22 So the analogy that I think of in Perfect is the expression about shooting fish in a barrel. And YouTube is the barrel, and the content creators are the fish. And so it's a place where this content is centralized, and essentially it's easy for us to find. But actually with this story, the big question I want to ask is, what are your thoughts regarding the FTC, the FTC complaint, channels like Ryan Toys Review? Yesterday I saw a number of small and large kids directed content creators, very scared. But from a consumer standpoint, what are your thoughts?

Starting point is 00:04:57 Are you worried because maybe this affects content that you or your children or whoever, they consume? If they're not able to make money from the content, they'll stop making it? Or do you maybe think that this new focus, these FTC complaints on these channels that are, you know, heavily focused towards young children, that it's actually a good thing? That you see it as young children being too young to be able to discern what is an ad and what is kind of an organic thing, and so it's predatory in nature?

Starting point is 00:05:19 And so maybe that does need to be cracked down on? Also, you know, there's kind of a middle standpoint. Do you think that it's good to crack down on the very obviously directed towards like children that are like five years old content, but you're worried because maybe it's a slippery slope that things get a little more gray as the, you know, when we gave the Minecraft example yesterday. Any and all thoughts on this topic,

Starting point is 00:05:36 I'd love to see from you in those comments down below. Then in quickie, and it is somewhat kind of ironic news given what we just talked about, finalists have been announced for the second annual Streamy's Brand Awards, where we're seeing creators like David Dobrik and the companies that he's working with like Chipotle and SeatGeek being nominated for literally the same award. For Best Brand Engagement, we also saw Ryan ToysReview and Ryan's World nominated for their campaign with Colgate.

Starting point is 00:05:58 So some interesting, probably they see it as less than ideal timing. Then let's talk about this story that I've been eyeing this week. It's kind of just trying to find the proper insertion point for this garbage fire. And what I'm talking about here are the massive updates concerning Brexit. And to give you an oversimplified recap in case you missed our previous coverage,

Starting point is 00:06:15 you had the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union back in 2016. And since then you've had lawmakers in the UK trying to push through a deal, but that has not been easy. A vote on a deal to leave the EU has already failed three times in British Parliament. The UK then had to ask the EU to extend the deal, and a prime minister later,

Starting point is 00:06:30 you had Conservative Party members electing Boris Johnson, who notably has promised to take the UK out of the EU by the current October 31st deadline. He, and this is a key note here, claims that he'll do this with or without a deal. Right now he says that he wants to negotiate a better deal, but the EU has said and continues to say that it will not budge on the deal

Starting point is 00:06:46 that it has already offered. And that is massively important because a lot of the people in the UK are worried about the consequences of a no-deal Brexit, which could lead to shortages on food, gas, medicine, notably insulin. Economists also warn that this outcome could result in a huge blow to the economy.

Starting point is 00:07:00 But as we saw last week, we saw Johnson reportedly taking steps to protect his ability to execute a no-deal Brexit, going to the Queen and asking her to suspend Parliament, which had already been scheduled for a three and a half week recess. So that suspension then added an extra week to that, limiting the time for lawmakers to agree on a deal, or to block Johnson from going through with a no-deal. We've also then seen people going to the streets in protest. We saw petitions to cancel the suspension.

Starting point is 00:07:20 We even saw some lawmakers in Johnson's own party resign. And unsurprisingly, you also had opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn found to block The suspension also saying that he'd worked to block a no deal as well And that is exactly what we saw on Tuesday Johnson began holding a vote in the House of Commons that would allow him to be able to deliver a brexit deal of his choice But midway through a speech by Johnson You actually had a fellow conservative by the name of Philip Lee announce his opposition by sitting with the Liberal Democrats I've said this before and I'll say it again, politics aside, UK Parliament is probably

Starting point is 00:07:46 my favorite thing to watch because it's, it is a crazy theatrical mess. But the reason what Philip Lee did there was notable, wasn't just like, oh, drama. It was a signal that Boris Johnson might actually lose his majority, and ultimately he did, with Parliament voting 328 to 301 against Johnson. You then had a lawmaker openly mocking Johnson

Starting point is 00:08:02 immediately after. The ayes to the right, 328. The noes to the left, 301. Yeah! Not a good start, Morris. Now on his side, Johnson has argued that if the UK votes to stop a no deal, the UK will effectively be surrendering to the EU. And he says that because he believes that the only way the EU will offer a better deal is if it thinks that the UK will legitimately walk away without any deal come October 31st.

Starting point is 00:08:30 And that's because a no-deal Brexit isn't expected to just hurt the UK, but also to damage other European economies. Right, so essentially a strategy that some have referred to as just kind of flooring it towards the edge of a cliff with the hope that the passenger, the EU, will swerve the car the direction that he wants. Now, notably regarding negotiation, Johnson said yesterday

Starting point is 00:08:46 that he has made quote substantial progress in negotiating a deal, but he didn't reveal any details arguing that you do not negotiate in public. However, an EU spokesperson told reporters that quote, there is nothing new from London. Following that vote that Johnson lost 328 to 301, he took bold steps with his own party. 21 of those 328 votes against Johnson

Starting point is 00:09:05 came from Conservative Party members, who Johnson had threatened to expel from the party before the vote if they went against him, which is actually a thing that the Prime Minister can do in the UK. Notably, that list included Nicholas Soames, who is the grandson of Winston Churchill. It also included Kenneth Clarke,

Starting point is 00:09:17 who is currently the longest serving MP in the House of Commons and is known as the father of the House. And Johnson followed through with his promise and expelled those Conserv conservatives later that evening. Now, a big note, that does not actually mean that the politicians were fired, they're just now considered independents,

Starting point is 00:09:29 and they reportedly will not be able to run for reelection as conservatives. So there was that, and then heading into Wednesday, lawmakers took control of Parliament's agenda, taking it away from Johnson because he no longer had a majority. They then put a bill on the table to block the UK from going through with a no-deal Brexit,

Starting point is 00:09:42 pushing it through several rounds of votes that same day, and ultimately passing it to the House of Lords, who are expected to finish debating it as soon as tomorrow. Now if that passes, it'll then be pushed back to the House of Commons for any amendments, and if the Commons approves it, the bill will then go to the Queen, who will almost certainly sign it into law. That then could force Johnson to go back to the EU

Starting point is 00:09:59 to ask for an extension, notably to delay the Brexit deadline until January, which Johnson has previously said that he will not do. Now, following all of this, Johnson called for new general election. But the thing there is that Parliament needs to approve that with a two-thirds majority. And leading up to that, tensions were hot.

Starting point is 00:10:13 I mean, earlier in the day, you had Johnson attacking Corbyn. But Mr. Speaker, I know he's worried about free trade deals with America, but there's only one chlorinated chicken that I can see in this house, and he's on that bench. Will he confirm again? We also saw Corbyn taking shots at Johnson. And it's basically a policy that's cloaked in mystery,

Starting point is 00:10:33 like the emperor's new clothes. There really is absolutely nothing there. You then had Ken Clark, remember, the father of the House, going after Johnson and calling him desperate to hold election. I merely say that I found these exchanges quite predictable. They've been well rehearsed before we took place. I do think the prime minister with the greatest respect has a tremendous skill in keeping his straight face

Starting point is 00:10:55 whilst he's being so disingenuous. But ultimately Johnson didn't get enough votes for it to pass. Now had his plan worked, those elections would have been expected to be held on October 15th, which would have opened the elections for all 650 seats in the House of Commons, which is something that's not scheduled to be held for another three years.

Starting point is 00:11:08 Now that said, a thing I want to hit on here is this part of the story isn't actually over. That's because reportedly Johnson will try to hold a vote on elections on Monday, and for his part, Corbyn has said that he will vote for elections, but only after a block to a no-deal Brexit is signed into law. Now once again, you might think, story's over, nope.

Starting point is 00:11:22 This morning we ended up seeing another blow to Boris Johnson when his brother, who is also a conservative MP, announced his resignation on Twitter. And in that post, Joe Johnson said, "'In recent weeks, I've been torn between family loyalty "'and the national interest. "'It's an unresolvable tension in time for others

Starting point is 00:11:36 "'to take on my roles as MP and minister. "'Hashtag over and out.'" Now some political commentators have speculated that this resignation might stem from Johnson expelling those 21 conservatives. You had MP David Gauck, one of the people Johnson expelled, saying, Lots of MPs have had to wrestle with conflicting loyalties in recent weeks, none more so than Joe. This is a big loss to Parliament, the government, and the Conservative Party.

Starting point is 00:11:55 But today we actually may have gotten some clarity regarding this issue, because at a press conference today, Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that Joe Johnson disagrees with him about how to handle Brexit, but also adding that his brother supports his domestic policy and wants to see Brexit solved. Also, there is an outside forces angle to this story. Mid all this, we've seen US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence sharing their support. Trump himself has been a very big supporter of Brexit, saying that the US would sign, quote, a very big trade deal, bigger than we've ever had with the UK once it leaves the EU. And Tuesday in Ireland, Pence doubled down, saying that the United States wanted to open up

Starting point is 00:12:25 a free trade agreement with the UK. And today you had Pence meeting with Johnson in London and adding that such a deal could drastically increase trade between the two countries. The president often says that the United States has the biggest economy in the world. And we truly believe that a free trade agreement between the United States and the UK could increase trade

Starting point is 00:12:45 between our countries by three or four times. But ultimately that is where we are as of recording this video. It's going to be so interesting to see what actually happens, what the House of Lords does, how Johnson reacts to all of that. And of course, like with every story, I pass the question off to you,

Starting point is 00:12:59 but this is also specifically focused on people in the UK, people in the EU. What do you think about what's happening now? And also, what would you like to see happen? And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And hey, if you liked today's video, let us know by hitting that like button. Also, if you're new here, you want more of these daily dives into the news, hit that subscribe button and definitely click that bell to turn on notifications. Also, if you're not 100% filled in, maybe you want to check out the brand new podcast I released yesterday with Steve Zaragoza, or maybe you want to check out today's brand new deep dive into magic mushrooms.

Starting point is 00:13:25 You can click or tap right there to watch that right now. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow, maybe? I gotta figure out if I can pull it off, but also make sure you have notifications on so you actually know.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.5 FTC Calls Youtubers "Fish In Barrel", Ryan Toys Review Targeted, David Dobrik, & Brexit

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