Pic Credits Pixabay
Google and its subsidiary YouTube are hit with a record
$170 million fine imposed by Federal Trade Commission for settling the
allegations that the search company had violated a law protecting the
children's privacy.
YouTube is accused of collecting data on young users (under
13 years old users) and broke law by not getting any consent from parents. The
the further complaint claimed that the collection of data was made via cooking and
persistent identifiers which allowed Google and YouTube to target ads to
viewers.
In defense, Google claimed that the subsidiary YouTube is a
general-audience website. But YouTube as a whole must comply with COPPA
(Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) because some channels are fully
aimed at children's viewership.
COPPA is an abbreviation of the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act. It is a rule-based on which all the online services aimed at
children must provide details of their information collection and usage
practices. Moreover, they must obtain parental consent before collecting any
personal data for users under 13 years of age. This rule does not only apply to
websites and services but also the third parties such as advertising networks,
in the case where the age of the person they are profiling is known.
The verdict is voted 3-to-2 in favor, the settlement fine is
split into $136 million to be paid to the FTC and $34 million to New York for
ending the investigation by FTC and New York Attorney General. So far this is
the largest amount paid to settle COPPA allegations. Moreover, the settlement
also requires both, Google and YouTube to develop, implement and maintain a
system that allows the channel owners to identify their content as
child-directed, to ensure that content is in compliance with COPPA rules. The
channels must be informed if their child-focused content is subject to COPPA
rules and also Google is responsible for providing annual COPPA training to
employees dealing with YouTube channel owners.
For the settlement, both Google and YouTube are required to
provide notice of their data collection practices and "obtain verifiably
parental consent" prior to the collection of personal information from
children.
YouTube has published a blog
post providing an update on Kids data protection on YouTube, New data practices
for children's content on YouTube and Improvements in YouTube kids.
It is recommended for the parents that it is better to use
the YouTubeKids app if they are planning to allow children aged under 13 to watch
videos independently on YouTube.
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