YouTube could pay the price for collecting children’s data.
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Google has reportedly reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over alleged violations of data privacy laws for children on YouTube. The Google settlement comes after an FTC investigation over whether the tech giant sufficiently protected the data of children using the platform, the Washington Post reported Friday afternoon citing two sources.
In June, it was reported that Google could be facing fines from a late-stage investigation by the federal government into YouTube’s handling of children’s videos, with that report coming the same day as YouTube saying it was considering significant changes to protect its youngest content creators and viewers. This could include moving all children’s content to the YouTube Kids app only.
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YouTube accused of violating child privacy laws
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According to the Post, the investigation found Google improperly collected children’s data, a breach of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to sign off on the details of the fine.
Google declined to comment, while the FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, US Sen. Ed Markey sent a letter to the FTC expressing concerns over YouTube’s kids’ content practices, asking the commission to “hold YouTube accountable for any illegal activity affecting children that the company may have committed.”
“Personal information about a child can be leveraged to hook consumers for years to come,” Markey wrote in the Tuesday letter. “It is incumbent upon the FTC to enforce federal law and act as a check against the ever-increasing appetite for children’s data.”
At the same time, the Center for Digital Democracy and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood also sent a letter to the FTC suggesting penalties for the video-streaming giant. They recommended all children’s data be deleted, civil penalties, plus “a $100 million fund to be used to support the production of noncommercial, high-quality and diverse content for children.”