Google: Fine for YouTube for violating children’s privacy

YouTube would have collected data on young children in order to use them to generate profit through targeted advertisements. The data was made available to advertisers enticed by the possibility of reaching the desired target with their advertising messages. For YouTube and advertisers, millions of dollars have been created.

YouTube had previously stated that it did not have data generated by users under the age of 13 in its databases. Collecting and using data belonging to such a young audience for profit is prohibited in the United States by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, better known as ” Cup “, which allowed judges to apply to Google and its YouTube subsidiary a $170 million fine, a record for this area.

The most significant sanction so far for breaking the children’s privacy law had been imposed on TikTok, amounting to ” only ” 5.7 million dollars. Despite this, the fine to Google and YouTube, established by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Department of Justice, has been strongly criticized by associations that protect children’s rights and consumer interests, accustomed to the usually much more expensive fines sanctioned against the computer giants.

On YouTube multiply the channels dedicated to a very young public, full of games and forms of entertainment appropriate to age. Some of these channels include millions of subscribers, representing an important business opportunity for companies operating in the smallest sector.

After the FTC’s decision, Google announced a change to its policies, forcing channel owners targeting younger people to clearly identify content created specifically for children. In this way we try to avoid that targeted advertisements can be conveyed through this type of channels. YouTube must obtain parental consent to be able to collect and share personal data and images of children.