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The US Federal Trade Commission voted in favor of signing an agreement with Google on the violation of child privacy laws through its YouTube video platform, according to two people close to the United States. the situation.
The FTC opened an investigation into Google's Alphabet unit after consumer groups and privacy advocates alleged that the company had not adequately protected young YouTube users against inappropriate content and illegally collected their personal information. Under the Children's Online Privacy Act, also known as COPPA, businesses must obtain permission from their parents before collecting certain types of data from people under 13 years of age.
The multi-million dollar settlement vote was split into three parties, with three Republican commissioners standing up for and two Democrats against, the two said.
The fine and terms of the deal, which could include potential restrictions on YouTube's business practices, are now being reviewed by the US Department of Justice. It is unclear how long it will take, although the DoJ rarely rejects FTC regulations.
The Washington Post announced this initiative for the first time and only a week after learning that the FTC had finalized a settlement of about $ 5 billion with Facebook for breach of privacy. This investigation came after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which social user data was disclosed to a political research group via a third-party application. If approved, Facebook's $ 5 billion figure would be the heaviest civil sanction imposed by the FTC to date.
Both fines also come at a time of growing contraction – dubbed the "techlash" – among regulators and the general public in the face of the power of large technology companies and their data privacy practices. Activists have expressed concerns about the safety of tweens, especially on social media applications such as Snapchat and Instagram, where they may be exposed to intimidation as well as harmful content.
The Chinese video application TikTok was sentenced this year to a record $ 5.7 million fine by the FTC for allegedly illegally collecting personal information about children. In India, the application was temporarily banned because of allegations that it "degraded the culture and encouraged badgraphy."
Earlier this year, several major advertisers, including Nestlé and Disney, slashed YouTube's digital advertising spending as a result of suggestions that the site would have facilitated the development of pedophile networks.
A spokesperson for YouTube declined to comment on Friday. The FTC also declined to comment.
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