The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Google to pay $170M over kids' privacy law violations
Google will pay $170 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations its YouTube video service violated children’s online privacy by collecting their personal data without parental consent. On Wednesday, the company agreed to work with video creators to label material aimed at kids and said it will limit data collection when users view such videos, regardless of their age.
What the law says
The FTC’s complaint was based on a 1998 federal law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. It bans websites from collecting personal information from children under 13 without the permission of par
ents. Tech companies, however, have long skirted this regulation by saying they officially exclude kids from their services.
How we got here
A group of privacy advocates filed a formal request in April 2018 asking the FTC to investigate YouTube’s compliance.
YouTube had long said its service is intended for ages 13 and older, a message that theoretically kept it in line with the law.
Ask any kid or their parent, however, and the reality was far different. Younger kids commonly watch videos on YouTube, and many popular YouTube channels feature cartoons or sing-a-longs made for children. YouTube acknowledged Wednesday that “the likelihood of children watching without supervision has increased” since its founding because there are more shared devices and a “boom in family content.”
The FTC’s complaint details how Google boasted about its youthful audience when talking to major advertisers. The FTC includes as evidence Google’s visual presentations made to toy companies Mattel and Hasbro where YouTube is described as the “new Saturday Morning Cartoons” and the “#1 website regularly visited by kids.”
What to expect
Starting early next year, anyone who uploads a video to YouTube will have to designate whether or not that video is directed at children.
If a video is identified as child-focused, such as a cartoon or the “unboxing” of a new toy, Google has agreed not to put up “behavioral” ads — those that cater to specific viewers based on their age and other social characteristics. Google also won’t track the viewers’ online identities. Google says these restrictions will be in place regardless of the viewer’s age.
Google is stopping short of seeking parental consent on its main service, even for kids-focused video. The law doesn’t require it to, as long as there’s no data collection. Google already gets parental consent for its kids-focused service, YouTube Kids.