Google, which owns YouTube, has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that said the site illegally collected personal information from kids without their parents’ permission. The lawsuit alleged that YouTube tracked what people did online while watching kids’ shows. Cookies were used to track this, and they collected IP addresses and unique device identifiers.
The lawsuit said this practice was a clear violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law that says websites can’t collect personal information from kids under 13 without their parents’ permission first. This new settlement is not the same as a previous case that set a record. In 2019, Google paid $170 million to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the New York State Attorney General’s Office over the same main issue: violating children’s privacy laws. YouTube had to make major changes to its platform as a result of that settlement.
YouTube now treats all content aimed at kids differently because of the 2019 action. The platform now turns off features such as personalized ads, comments, and notifications for videos marked as “made for kids.” It also makes it harder to collect data on those videos. The $30 million from this most recent class-action lawsuit will go to the millions of people in the US who let their kids watch YouTube videos during a certain time.
People who meet the requirements and file a claim will be able to get some of the settlement money. While the exact amount per person is not yet known, it is intended to provide some restitution for the alleged unauthorized data collection. This settlement doesn’t mean Google is guilty, but it does show that big tech companies are still struggling with the law and ethics around user privacy, especially when it comes to young and vulnerable users. It reminds us of the strict rules in place to keep kids safe online, and the big fines companies can face if they don’t follow them.
