US Court Indicts Google And YouTube Content Providers For Violating Children Privacy

  • A U.S. appeals court revived a suit charging Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google and other companies of violating the privacy of children below 13 years.
  • Google and other companies allegedly tracked the children's YouTube activity without parental consent to send them targeted advertising, Reuters reports.
  • The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle said Congress did not intend to prevent state law-based privacy claims by adopting the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.
  • Also Read: Google, ClassDojo Attract UK Regulatory Scrutiny For Compromising User Privacy Via EdTechs
  • Under the COPPA, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general can regulate the online collection of personal data about children below 13 years.
  • The lawsuit alleged that Google's data collection violated similar state laws and that YouTube content providers like Hasbro Inc HASMattel Inc MATWarner Bros. Discovery, Inc WBD Cartoon Network, and Comcast Corp CMCSA DreamWorks Animation lured children to their channels.
  • In July 2021, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Francisco dismissed the lawsuit, saying the federal privacy law prevented the plaintiffs' claims under California, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Tennessee law.
  • In October 2019, the FTC and New York Attorney General Letitia James slapped a $170 million penalty on Google for YouTube's illegal collection of children's data without parental consent.
  • Price Action: GOOG shares traded higher by 0.58% at $86.96 in the premarket on the last check Thursday.
  • Image by succo from Pixabay
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