Washington: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) agreed the amount of the settlement against YouTube parent Google, which if approved by the Justice Department, would be the largest settlement in a case involving children’s privacy, media sources reported. Google will pay $150-200 million to settle allegations that YouTube violated a children’s privacy law while gathering data to better target its adverts, U.S. media reports said. The allegations against YouTube were made by privacy groups who said the platform had violated laws protecting children’s privacy by gathering data on users under the age of 13 without obtaining permission from parents, sources reported.
U.S. regulators have long argued Google fails to protect children from harmful content and data collection on its YouTube platform. Advocacy group The Center for Digital Democracy said in a statement that the proposed settlement would be “woefully low” given Google’s size and revenue, and called on the FTC to “enjoin Google from committing further violations” of children’s privacy law.
Google is appealing the fine. Fellow U.S. tech giant Facebook recently settled a record $5 billion fine with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for misusing users’ private data.
Google to pay $150-200 million to settle allegations that YouTube violated children’s privacy law
