UPDATED 15:09 EDT / AUGUST 30 2019

POLICY

Google will reportedly pay fine of up to $200M to settle FTC’s YouTube probe

Google LLC will cough up between $150 million and $200 million to settle a regulatory probe into children’s privacy on YouTube, Politico reported today.

The investigation was launched by the Federal Trade Commission last year following a joint appeal from 20 advocacy groups. The advocacy coalition charged that YouTube violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act or COPPA by collecting data on users younger than 13 years old without first securing parental approval as the law requires. This practice affected tens of millions of children in the U.S. alone, the groups argued. 

Politico’s source said that the FTC has already approved the settlement with Google and passed it on to the Justice Department for review. Word that a deal has been reached first emerged last month, but there were few details about what the agreement includes.

Certain key information is still missing after today’s report, namely what additional obligations the agreement may impose on Google besides the fine. As part of such privacy settlements, the FTC often requires companies to change the practices that have been found unlawful or subject themselves to additional scrutiny. The advocacy groups that called for the YouTube investigation asked the FTC to do both in their complaint.

Google is already taking steps to improve children’s privacy, possibly in connection with the reported settlement. The company today officially launched the website for YouTube Kids, a service running separately from YouTube that enables parents to monitor and restrict what content their children consume. It was reported earlier this month that Google will also stop showing targeted ads on videos likely to be watched by minors.

Google and FTC declined to comment on Politico’s report about the settlement. The agency previously slapped Facebook with a record-breaking $5 billion penalty over the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal and two other incidents involving inappropriate use of consumer data. 

Photo: Unsplash

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