YouTube fined record £140million for breaking law by collecting children’s data behind parents’ backs

YOUTUBE has been fined a record £139million for violating children’s privacy laws. The company has been accused of collecting data on youngsters under the age of 13 without parental consent. America’s Federal Trade Commission said the information was used to target adverts at kids in contravention of the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (Coppa). […]

YOUTUBE has been fined a record £139million for violating children’s privacy laws.

The company has been accused of collecting data on youngsters under the age of 13 without parental consent.

Alamy

America’s Federal Trade Commission said the information was used to target adverts at kids in contravention of the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (Coppa).

The fine is the largest in a so-called Coppa case.
FTC chairman Joe Simons said: “There’s no excuse for YouTube’s violations of the law.”

YouTube, owned by Google, said its service was aimed at over-13s.

It has a YouTube Kids app which does not target ads based on viewer interests like YouTube does.

The children’s version, however, does track data in order to recommend videos.

The FTC said Google must also create a new system so content aimed at kids is clearly labelled.

Google and YouTube must also be more open about their data-gathering practices.

FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra said Google “baited” kids on YouTube with videos featuring nursery rhymes and cartoons.

He called the proposed changes “insufficient” and said the fine “barely bites”.

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