Google fined $170M for violating kids’ privacy on YouTube

September 4, 2019

Google will pay a record $170 million fine to settle a lawsuit filed by federal and state authorities that charged the internet giant with violating children’s privacy on YouTube, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.

The settlement requires Google and Youtube to pay $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by collecting personal information from children without their parents’ consent.

The FTC and the New York attorney general alleged in a complaint that Youtube gathered children’s personal information by using “cookies,” or personal identifiers, that track users online. According to the suit, Youtube earned millions of dollars for delivering targeted ads to kids using the information.

COPPA requires online websites to obtain parental consent prior to collecting kids’ information. The FTC and New York Attorney General Letitia James said that, while Youtube claimed it caters to a general audience, many of its channels are aimed at children. That requires the service to comply with COPPA guidelines.

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“YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement. “Yet when it came to complying with COPPA, the company refused to acknowledge that portions of its platform were clearly directed to kids.”

Prior to Google’s settlement, the largest civil FTC penalty for a children’s data-privacy case was $5.7 million for a case involving social media app TikTok.