VICTORY: Big Changes Coming at YouTube Last year, CCFC, the Center for Digital Democracy, and our lawyers at Georgetown’s Institute for Public Representation filed an FTC complaint detailing how Google was illegally collecting, using, and profiting off of kids’ data on YouTube. Now, after over a year of putting pressure on policymakers, we got results: the FTC announced a record-breaking fine for Google and a ban on personalized ads on kid-directed YouTube channels. As FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra explained, Google’s ad technologies allow them to “psychologically profile each user and predict in real time what content will be most engaging and which ads will be most persuasive.” It’s completely unfair to use already-vulnerable children’s likes, interests, location, and viewing habits in order to deliver them even more persuasive ads. That’s why the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) makes it illegal to collect data from and serve targeted ads to kids under 13 without parental consent. But for years before we tipped off the FTC, Google had been illegally spying on and delivering targeted ads to millions of children. They said YouTube “wasn’t for kids,” and so the site didn’t need to comply with COPPA. Meanwhile, they were bragging to advertisers that YouTube was the best place to target kids! Now, as a result of our campaign, Google can no longer talk out of both sides of its mouth. The settlement isn’t perfect – $170 million is a record fine, but it’s barely half a drop in the bucket of cash Google made off their illegal, predatory behavior. And industry is already fighting to weaken children’s privacy rules so they can get back to business (that is, the business of manipulating kids). In the coming months, we’ll let you know about how you can help strengthen privacy protections for kids. And as YouTube makes changes, our child development experts and parent educators will offer advice to families on watching (or not watching!) together. But for now, let’s all take a moment to celebrate what we’ve accomplished together: the number one kids’ website in the world will soon have significantly less surveillance and kid-targeted advertising! |