YouTube Will Pay $170 Million to Settle Claims It Violated Child Privacy Laws
CNBC reports that Google’s YouTube will pay $170 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York attorney general that it earned millions by illegally collecting personal information from children without their parents’ consent.
The settlement passed in a 3-2 vote by the commissioners, with the two Democrats voting against it, saying it did not go far enough to punish YouTube.
“The settlement requires Google and YouTube to pay $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act,” according to CNBC.
FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra dissented to the settlement, saying: “This latest violation is extremely serious. The company baited children using nursery rhymes, cartoons and other kid-directed content on curated YouTube channels to feed its massively profitable behavioral advertising business.”
