It’s the largest COPPA fine in history
From The Verge:
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is fining Google $170 million following the agency’s investigation into YouTube over alleged violations of a children’s privacy law.
In the settlement, the FTC and the New York attorney general allege that Google marketed its video platform, YouTube, to advertisers knowing that many channels were popular with younger audiences. It also alleges that the company tracked the viewing histories of children in order to serve them ads, which violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The $170 million fine is the largest COPPA fine to date, dwarfing the fine TikTok’s parent company received last February for violations of the same law.
“YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. “Yet when it came to complying with COPPA, the company refused to acknowledge that portions of its platform were clearly directed to kids. There’s no excuse for YouTube’s violations of the law.”
The settlement was agreed to on a 3-2 party-line vote, with the Republican commissioners voting to approve it. Details of the settlement leaked last week, but they were only confirmed by the agency today.
The settlement also requires that Google make new changes to its business practices, like requiring creators to label content intended for younger audiences and halting the data collection on videos clearly targeting minors. It’s unclear how YouTube has defined content that targets minors, but it said in the blog that its algorithms will seek to label content that has “an emphasis on kids characters, themes, toys, or games.”..READ MORE
