In early July, YouTube made a significant change to its software to boost what it deems “quality” children’s content, sending waves of traffic to certain video producers and burying other channels. The change came as the company tries to convince parents its service is safe for kids, and convince regulators that it isn’t violating the law.
The update immediately alarmed many YouTube creators who already feel that their livelihoods hang at the whims of mysterious algorithms.
Kids’ entertainment is massive on YouTube, the internet video-sharing arm of Alphabet Inc’s Google. It’s also incredibly controversial. Because YouTube lets people post clips with few limitations, it has faced blistering criticism for making inappropriate and disturbing footage available to kids. In response, in recent years YouTube has made two notable changes. In 2017, YouTube purged dozens of channels behind violent and sexual videos featuring kids or cartoons, and earlier this year it shut off the ability for users to comment on videos starring children following a scandal after evidence surfaced that video comments were used to identify young girls in clips that could be seen as sexually suggestive.
YouTube’s software algorithms determine how videos are placed in search results and viewing recommendations, and so the company is notoriously secretive about them. Thousand of video creators rely on YouTube’s cloaked system to reach their audience and earn advertising money. Many adjustments to the software are routine, but the latest change stood out. “Most of the time, we don’t even notice it,” said Melissa Hunter of Family Video Network, a YouTube multi-channel network and consulting firm. “Whatever was tweaked about a week and a half ago was very noticeable.”
YouTube confirmed the recent software update, but declined to detail the reasons behind it. “We make hundreds of changes every year to make it easier for people to find what they want to watch on YouTube,” Ivy Choi, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement. “We recently made one such change that improves the ability for users to find quality family content.”
Since the change, some videos aimed at preschoolers saw a precipitous drop in traffic, while others catering to a similar age group saw major spikes, Ms Hunter said. When the shift occurred, the company did not communicate it to creators, according to Ms Hunter and other YouTube creators. The viewers have not returned. One YouTube creator posted a chart on July 13th, in a private Facebook group, showing a 98 per cent drop in viewing traffic in three days. “Is it time to stop creating kids content?” read the message.
YouTube bars minors under 13 from using the site, and recommends children use YouTube Kids, its app with more content filters and parental controls. But the app’s reach is small relative to YouTube’s main site, and people at the company have privately acknowledged that older children gravitate from the app to the far larger media catalog on YouTube.com. YouTube recently reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over allegations it violated a law that prohibits collecting personal data from minors and serving them targeted ads. The settlement could lead to a potential fine and additional oversight.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive officer, has recently stressed the “educational” value of YouTube. He told investors last week that YouTube would place “a lot of effort” into its Kids app. “It’s a product you're going to see us focus more on and continue to evolve, add more curated content there, and make sure it's safe for kids and give parents peace of mind,” he said on the company’s earnings call. Mr Pichai said the approach also applied to “family-oriented” videos on YouTube.com. “Rewarding trusted creators is a big way we can help,” he added.
YouTube wouldn’t share examples of “trusted creators”. But the company pointed to a guideline it publishes for making family videos. The document suggests avoiding footage that looks like it came from “content farms” (repetitious clips that feature the same cartoon truck in different colors, for instance) and “mindless, addictive content that has no substance or developmental value to the viewer.” A spokeswoman said these guidelines do not determine what videos are recommended, removed or eligible for ads.
The company also hasn’t detailed how it defines “quality” or “educational” videos. So one of the best barometers for YouTube’s metric is its Kids app, which places videos front-and-center once a viewer logs in. The educational merits of these choices are up for debate. Heather Kirkorian, an early childhood development professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, opened the app this week and found Baby Shark and Lucas the Spider, two global hits. “I wouldn’t consider them educational. I would consider them wholesome,” she said. “The term ‘educational’ is used as an umbrella for ‘non-harmful.’”
Creators said YouTube’s recent updates impacted both its main site and Kids app. The app’s home screen has tiny icons with recommended videos under the categories “Music”, “Shows” and “Learning.” Some of those channels included there saw recent boosts in views and subscriptions, the key metrics for the service. Those include established producers such as PBS Kids and Mother Goose Club. Woolly and Tig, a British channel that makes live-action clips of a girl and her stuffed toy, has seen a 156 per cent increase in views over the last 30 days, according to Social Blade, a firm that measures YouTube traffic. Representatives from the Woolly and Tig channel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Channels like Woolly and Tig star young children, and often feature their parents or other adults. But there’s another popular genre of YouTube kids’ media: Channels that post nursery rhymes and animated sing-a-longs at an astounding rate, racking up millions of views. The producers behind them are elusive. James Bridle, a British author, wrote an influential Medium post about the genre in 2017, detailing how these videos create their content and format based on “algorithmically generated keywords” – they’re videos made purely to perform well on YouTube.
There are some signs the algorithm is punishing them. A few of the YouTube channels Bridle cited in the post – such as Finger Family Songs and Videogyan- Nursery Rhymes & Baby Songs – all saw views fall over 25 per cent in the last month, per Social Blade. Videogyan did not return a request for comment; the other channel could not be reached. Yet Jason Urgo, Social Blade’s chief executive, said some trends are hard to pinpoint to one catalyst. “There’s a million reasons why a channel would have a spike in traffic,” Urgo said. YouTube declined to comment on those channels.
Over the weekend, Ms Hunter said she saw a traffic surge from a particular kind of nursery rhyme video. The clips explode in animation and color. Several of the clips use video captions with Arabic or Korean phrases for “learning English.” (Some videos used both languages.) The channels churn out several videos a week and net revenue from the ads that run ahead of the footage. Hunter said she found them through YouTube’s recommendation engine after viewing clips with English descriptions. Kirkorian, the development expert, watched videos from two of these channels, ABC Drawing Land and Coco Bin. She said that although they are not harmful, several of their traits – firing words off quickly; loud background music; and frequent text on the screen – were not conducive to how toddlers best learn.
“They’re just proliferating. It’s like a fungus,” said Ms Hunter, of Family Video Network. “It's almost as if they've found a chink in the armor and they're exploiting it.” Neither of the channels Hunter flagged posted contact information on their YouTube pages, and so the creators could not be reached for comment. Ms Choi, the YouTube spokeswoman, said traffic swings in those channels were unrelated to the recent algorithm adjustment. She declined to elaborate.
Some creators are still grappling to understand why YouTube made the changes, and how to recover from them. Nathan Laud, a British animator behind cartoon song channel Tiny Tunes, said his daily views fell about 80 percent since the algorithm update, mostly due to a drop in traffic from YouTube’s recommendation system. “My content has one primary aim, and that is to be educational,” Mr Laud, a father of two, wrote in an email.
When he asked YouTube about his traffic drop, an email from a company support account replied that there was a change in the “discovery systems” that connect viewers to videos. It didn’t detail why his videos were affected. “After further investigation, we've found no issues on your channel,” the email read. “Everything is working as intended.”
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023 More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales
Najlaa Khoury, Archipelago Books
How being social media savvy can improve your well being
Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.
As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.
Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.
Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.
Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.
However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.
“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.
People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
Do not drive outside designated lanes
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE results Lost to Oman by eight runs Beat Namibia by three wickets Lost to Oman by 12 runs Beat Namibia by 43 runs
UAE fixtures Free admission. All fixtures broadcast live on icc.tv
Tuesday March 15, v PNG at Sharjah Cricket Stadium Friday March 18, v Nepal at Dubai International Stadium Saturday March 19, v PNG at Dubai International Stadium Monday March 21, v Nepal at Dubai International Stadium
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000, 2,200m Winner: AF Taraha, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000, 1,400m Winner: Dhafra, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000, 1,400m Winner: Maqam, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000, 1,600m Winner: AF Momtaz, Fernando Jara, Musabah Al Muhairi
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000, 1,600m Winner: Optimizm, Patrick Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi
MATCH INFO
Crawley Town 3 (Tsaroulla 50', Nadesan 53', Tunnicliffe 70')
Leeds United 0
Results
STAGE
1 . Filippo Ganna (Ineos) - 0:13:56
2. Stefan Bissegger (Education-Nippo) - 0:00:14
3. Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) - 0:00:21
4. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 0:00:24
5. Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) - 0:00:30
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) - 4:00:05
2. Joao Almeida (QuickStep) - 0:00:05
3. Mattia Cattaneo (QuickStep) - 0:00:18
4. Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma) - 0:00:33
5. Adam Yates (Ineos) - 0:00:39
UAE SQUAD
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
Company Profile
Company name: Fine Diner
Started: March, 2020
Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and food delivery
Initial investment: Dh75,000
Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp
Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000
Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months
The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe
Four stars
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
MATCH SCHEDULE
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tuesday, April 24 (10.45pm)
Liverpool v Roma
Wednesday, April 25
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid (10.45pm)
Europa League semi-final, first leg
Thursday, April 26
Arsenal v Atletico Madrid (11.05pm)
Marseille v Salzburg (11.05pm)
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
