Google, YouTube to Pay $170 Million for Violating Children's Privacy Laws

Google has agreed to pay a record $170 1000000 to settle allegations by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New York Chaser Full general that YouTube illegally collected personal information from children without their parents' consent. The settlement requires the tech giant to pay $136 one thousand thousand to the FTC and $34 meg to New York for allegedly violating the country'southward Children'south Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The judgement was passed by a narrow iii-2 vote by the FTC commissioners, with the dissenting members alleging that the ruling did not go far enough to hold the company responsible for its actions. All the same, the penalty is withal by far the largest amount the agency has ever obtained in a COPPA case since Congress enacted the law in 1998.

In his majority judgement, FTC Chairman Joe Simons wrote: "YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients. 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 alibi for YouTube's violations of the law".

The New York Attorney Full general, Letitia James, was also scathing in her criticism of Google and YouTube, saying: "Google and YouTube knowingly and illegally monitored, tracked, and served targeted ads to young children only to keep advertizement dollars rolling in. These companies put children at risk and abused their ability, which is why we are imposing major reforms to their practices".

Following the settlement, Google published a web log mail service acknowledging its shortcomings and saying that it is taking steps to address the concerns raised over its practices. According to the company, it volition henceforth restrict data collection from videos aimed at children and, completely cease serving personalized ads on kid-focused content. It as well said it will completely disable all comments and notifications on those videos to keep them free from distasteful remarks.