4th September 2019

YouTube Hit With $170 Million Fine for Violating Children's Privacy

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By PC Mag

PC Mag - YouTube has agreed to pay the FTC a $170 million fine on claims the video-sharing platform illegally collected data from children without their parents' consent.

According to the FTC, YouTube collected the data via internet cookies on kid-focused channels, which were viewed by kids under the age of 13. The goal was to help clients, such as toy makers Hasbro and Mattel, display targeted ads to kids.

Although Google raked in millions by serving up the ads, the practice was illegal. Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), YouTube should've asked for parental consent before collected the data of kids under 13 to serve up targeted ads, the FTC claims. But the Google-owned company failed to do so, even though YouTube was marketing itself to advertisers as a way to reach children.

"YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients," FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in today's announcement. "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."

As part of today's settlement, YouTube has agreed to create a new system to ensure that the company is in compliance with COPPA, which will involve ending targeted ads on child-directed videos.

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