Many creators have viewers who are younger than they expect. Others make content for children on purpose. Two sets of published rules matter here. In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a statutory code of practice on how online services should treat children’s data. On YouTube, every creator is asked to say whether their videos are “made for kids”, and that choice changes which features are available. This guide summarises both, as they are described on the ICO’s website and in YouTube’s Help Centre. It is general information, not legal advice.
What is the ICO’s Children’s Code?
The code is formally titled “Age appropriate design: a code of practice for online services”. In the Information Commissioner’s foreword, the ICO says the code requires information society services to put the best interests of the child first when designing and developing apps, games, connected toys and websites that are likely to be accessed by children. The foreword says the code is “not a new law” but sets standards and explains how the General Data Protection Regulation applies when children use digital services.
The foreword describes the code as a set of 15 flexible standards that “do not ban or specifically prescribe”. It says the aim is to protect children within the digital world rather than from it, and that the code is rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The ICO also states that organisations should conform to the code and demonstrate that their services use children’s data fairly and in compliance with data protection law, and that companies that do not make the required changes risk regulatory action.
An important point for creators: the code is addressed to online services, meaning the companies that build and run apps, games and websites. It is not a rulebook written for individual creators. Its relevance to creators is indirect, because the code shapes the platforms they publish on and explains why those platforms offer certain settings.
What are the 15 standards?
The ICO’s contents list names the standards:
| No. | Standard |
|---|---|
| 1 | Best interests of the child |
| 2 | Data protection impact assessments |
| 3 | Age appropriate application |
| 4 | Transparency |
| 5 | Detrimental use of data |
| 6 | Policies and community standards |
| 7 | Default settings |
| 8 | Data minimisation |
| 9 | Data sharing |
| 10 | Geolocation |
| 11 | Parental controls |
| 12 | Profiling |
| 13 | Nudge techniques |
| 14 | Connected toys and devices |
| 15 | Online tools |
The foreword summarises several of them in plain terms. Settings must be “high privacy” by default, unless there is a compelling reason not to. Only the minimum amount of personal data should be collected and kept. Children’s data should not usually be shared. Geolocation services should be off by default. Nudge techniques should not be used to encourage children to provide unnecessary personal data or to weaken or turn off their privacy settings. The code also covers parental controls and profiling.
Why did the ICO write the code?
The foreword gives the reasoning in the Commissioner’s own words. It says data is gathered from the moment a young person opens an app, plays a game or loads a website, and that this information may then inform techniques used to persuade young people to spend more time on services, to shape the content they are encouraged to engage with and to tailor the advertisements they see. It states that one in five UK internet users are children, “but they are using an internet that was not designed for them”, and reports that in the ICO’s research children described some data practices as “nosy”, “rude” and a “bit freaky”.
The foreword also says the code was shaped by consultation with parents, children, schools, children’s campaign groups, developers, technology and gaming companies and online service providers, and that a transition period of 12 months was allowed.
What does YouTube ask creators to do?
YouTube’s Help page on setting a channel or video’s audience says creators are legally required to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and other laws “regardless of your location”, and that creators must tell YouTube if their videos are made for kids. It says every creator must set future and existing videos as made for kids or not, “even creators who don’t make content for kids”. The page explains that this helps YouTube offer appropriate features on the content.
There are two ways to set the audience:
- At channel level, which applies to all future and existing content. The options are to set the channel as made for kids, to set it as not made for kids, or to review the setting for each video.
- At video level, where each existing and future video is set individually. Settings for individual videos override the channel setting.
YouTube also says it uses machine learning to help identify videos clearly directed to young audiences, and that it may override a creator’s choice in cases of error or abuse. It warns creators not to rely on its systems to set the audience, because they may not identify content that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or other authorities consider to be made for kids. If a creator thinks YouTube made a mistake, the page says the creator can appeal.
What changes when content is made for kids?
The Help page lists the effects. YouTube says it limits data collection and use on made for kids content, which means some features must be restricted or disabled. It states that it does not serve personalised ads on kids content, and that this “may result in a decrease in revenue” for some creators who mark content as made for kids.
For an individual video or live stream set as made for kids, the page lists features that will not be available, including:
- comments;
- the notification bell;
- personalised advertising;
- channel memberships;
- Super Chat and Super Stickers;
- live chat and live chat donations;
- the donate button;
- merchandise and ticketing;
- cards or end screens;
- save to playlist and save to watch later.
If a whole channel is set as made for kids, the page says the channel will also not have channel memberships, the notification bell, posts or “Ask Studio”. The page says videos set as made for kids are more likely to be recommended alongside other kids’ videos.
For creators, this links back to income. Our guide to how creators make money explains how platform features such as memberships and live-chat payments fit into a creator’s revenue, and the made for kids settings show that some of those features can be switched off by the audience setting.
Why does YouTube require this?
The Help page says the changes are required as part of a settlement with the FTC and the New York Attorney General, and that failing to set the audience accurately may lead to compliance issues with the FTC or other authorities and to action on the YouTube account. The page recommends that creators who are unsure whether content is made for kids check YouTube’s guidance or consult legal counsel.
The page ties the requirement to US law and an FTC settlement, and says it applies to creators regardless of location, so it is a platform requirement rather than a UK rule. The ICO’s code, by contrast, is a UK regulator’s code for online services. The two work at different levels: one tells platforms what standards the UK regulator expects, and the other tells creators what the platform needs from them.
What practical questions should a creator ask?
Neither source gives a checklist for creators, but the pages suggest questions a channel team can ask:
- Who is the real audience? If a series draws young viewers, it may help to decide deliberately how to set the audience rather than leaving it to a default.
- Which features does the channel rely on? Memberships, live chat payments and comments are among the features YouTube lists as unavailable on made for kids content.
- Who sets and reviews the audience settings? The page says a channel setting can be overridden by video-level settings, so the team needs to know which one applies.
- Are sponsors aware? Rules for advertising and sponsorship are separate from the pages summarised here. See our guide to how brands choose influencers for how brands weigh audience when choosing partners.
- Is there a record? Notes on why an audience setting was chosen can help if a decision is questioned.
Platforms other than YouTube have their own settings and policies, which are not covered here.
What are the limits of this guide?
The ICO page read for this article is the code’s introduction, foreword and contents, so the detailed text of each standard is not summarised here. The code is addressed to online services, so how it applies to a particular creator’s activity is a question for qualified advice. YouTube’s Help page describes platform rules at the time it was read, on 13 October 2026, and those can change.
This article is general information based on published guidance from the ICO and YouTube. It is not legal advice. Anyone unsure whether content is directed at children should take qualified advice.
Sources: ICO (Age appropriate design: a code of practice for online services); YouTube Help (Set your channel or video’s audience)
