Tech advocacy groups press FTC to investigate Google for alleged children’s privacy violations | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"The request follows calls from members of Congress for the FTC to investigate whether YouTube violated a federal children's privacy law.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/fairplay-ftc-google-childrens-privacy\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech advocacy groups press FTC to investigate Google for alleged children's privacy violations\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The request follows calls from members of Congress for the FTC to investigate whether YouTube violated a federal children's privacy law.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/fairplay-ftc-google-childrens-privacy\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta 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href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/cropped-cs_favicon-2.png?w=192\" sizes=\"192x192\">\n<link rel=\"apple-touch-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/cropped-cs_favicon-2.png?w=180\">\n<meta name=\"msapplication-TileImage\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/cropped-cs_favicon-2.png?w=270\"> <\/head><body class=\"post-template-default single single-post postid-76535 single-format-standard\" id=\"readabilityBody\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/fairplay-ftc-google-childrens-privacy\/#main\" class=\"skip-to-content-link visually-hidden-focusable\">Skip to main content<\/a> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--top ad--top-desktop\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <main id=\"main\" role=\"main\" tabindex=\"-1\"> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--top ad--top-mobile\">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--newsletter js-stickybar\" readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"25.385514018692\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"30.816176470588\">\n<p> The request follows calls from members of Congress for the FTC to investigate whether YouTube violated a federal children’s privacy law. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations.jpg?resize=640%2C404&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations-1.jpg?resize=300,189 300w, 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https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations-1.jpg?resize=534,337 534w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations-1.jpg?resize=1070,675 1070w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations-1.jpg?resize=1337,843 1337w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1070px) 100vw, 1070px\"><figcaption> In this photo illustration, the logo of the Google and You Tube Kids applications are displayed on the screen of an iPhone. (Photo by Chesnot\/Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"49.075784535749\"><body readability=\"98.504966617815\"><\/p>\n<p>Advocacy groups Fairplay and Center for Digital Democracy <a href=\"https:\/\/fairplayforkids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/FTCRequestForInvestigationAug23.pdf\">filed a request with the Federal Trade Commission<\/a> Wednesday asking the agency to investigate whether Google and YouTube serve personalized ads on \u201cmade for kids\u201d YouTube channels.<\/p>\n<p>The groups are asking the FTC to use its investigative authorities to determine if Google\u2019s behavior has violated federal children\u2019s privacy law as well as an agreement it reached with the agency in 2019 over previous alleged violations.<\/p>\n<p>Documents submitted as part of the request for investigation detail research conducted independently by Fairplay that<strong> <\/strong>raises the possibility Google may be personalizing ads placed on videos from \u201cmade for kids\u201d channels, potentially contradicting the tech giant\u2019s claims it does not target children. <\/p>\n<p>The documents do not provide any evidence that Google has violated federal children\u2019s privacy law. Rather, the groups are asking the FTC to use its investigative authorities to make a determination as to whether Google has committed any violations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Electronic Privacy Information Center and Common Sense Media joined Fairplay and Center for Digital Democracy in writing to the FTC.<\/p>\n<p>Fairplay said it conducted its investigation following a report by the firm Adalytics last week that YouTube was putting ads for adult products on the channel, potentially leading to the collection of data on children. The research, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/17\/technology\/youtube-google-children-privacy.html\">which was first reported by The New York Times<\/a>, sparked <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/ftc-google-youtube-coppa-childrens-privacy\/\">calls from members of Congress for an FTC probe<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Fairplay said its research not only supports the findings of Adalytics and experiences reported by The New York Times but raises new questions about Google\u2019s practices.<\/p>\n<p>Fairplay tested an ad campaign to appear to users with attributes such as \u201cretiring soon\u201d and \u201ccloud service power users\u201d to run on 845 channels designated by Google and YouTube as \u201cmade for kids,\u201d such as \u201cMy Little Pony Official\u201d and \u201cDC Kids Brasil.\u201d Fairplay received a report that the campaign\u2019s more than 1,400 impressions reached a viewer with the selected attributes 100 percent of the time. Fairplay\u2019s ad campaign also resulted in a report indicating how many users who saw the ad identified as parents. The letter to the FTC also cites new reporting from Adalytics that the firm was able to run an ad campaign against \u201cmade for kids\u201d channels specifically excluding parents as an audience segment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf YouTube and Google are treating all viewers of \u2018made for kids\u2019 videos as children in order to comply with COPPA, the companies should not possess and should not be able to provide an ad buyer with this type of behavioral data about viewers of these videos,\u201d the letter to the FTC states.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Google made changes to YouTube\u2019s advertising systems in 2019 after the tech giant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2019\/09\/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations-childrens-privacy-law\">paid $170 million to settle<\/a> lawsuits filed by the FTC and the state of New York charging that YouTube had collected personal information from children without their parent\u2019s consent. Under the settlement, YouTube also agreed to create a system identifying children\u2019s content to avoid targeted advertising against children. The Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires that companies obtain parental consent before gathering data on users under the age of 13.<\/p>\n<p>Fairplay and the Center for Digital Democracy also led a coalition asking the FTC to investigate YouTube for children\u2019s privacy violations in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Google has maintained in <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products\/ads-commerce\/our-strict-privacy-standards-around-made-for-kids-content\/\">recent public statements<\/a> that it does not provide personalized ads on videos for children and that all ads that appear on \u201cmade for kids\u201d channels are served in a contextual manner, meaning that the ads are based on the context of the web page, not the user. \u201cSignals\u201d based advertising is turned off for \u201cmade for kids videos,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n<p>Fairplay alleges that it \u201cdefies credulity,\u201d that Google could reach viewers with the exact attributes it requested 100% of the time, as it did in Fairplay\u2019s tests, solely through contextual advertising. <\/p>\n<p>Fairplay did not share its methodology or full findings with Google ahead of sending the letter. Google told CyberScoop it could not comment on the specific campaign without knowing the full details but noted that channels can be designated as \u201cmade for kids\u201d but still include a combination of kids\u2019 content and content not specified for kids, indicating it was possible the reporting observed by Fairplay may have been placed on not-made for kids videos.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe conclusions in this report point to a fundamental misunderstanding of how advertising works on made for kids content,\u201d a Google spokesperson wrote in a statement to CyberScoop. \u201cWe do not allow ads personalization on made for kids content and we do not allow advertisers to target children with ads across any of our products. We also do not offer advertisers the option to directly target made for kids content as a whole. Given the allegations, we wish the author of the report had contacted us first. We\u2019ve reached out to them to clarify what they saw and share how our protections work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Google said it continues to \u201cabide by the agreements we made with the FTC and COPPA requirements as they relate to content that is made for kids.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Fairplay is urging the FTC to take much more sweeping enforcement actions beyond civil penalties, which they say could be in the billions of dollars, if violations are found. The request for investigation urges the FTC also require Google and YouTube to delete all models it trained on any ill-gotten data as well as ban Google and YouTube from monetizing any children\u2019s data in the future, a penalty the FTC recently proposed in response to <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/ftc-facebook-violating-privacy-agreement\/\">alleged violations by Meta of a previous privacy settlement with the agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf these platforms are going to repeatedly demonstrate that they cannot handle minors\u2019 data in a COPPA-compliant way then the FTC needs to use all the tools available to it, including the ability to say \u2018you can\u2019t be trusted to profit off of it anymore,’\u201d Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at Fairplay, told CyberScoop.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\">\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> 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{"id":1613,"date":"2023-08-23T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=76535"},"modified":"2023-08-23T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:00:00","slug":"tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/23\/tech-advocacy-groups-press-ftc-to-investigate-google-for-alleged-childrens-privacy-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech advocacy groups press FTC to investigate Google for alleged children\u2019s privacy violations"},"content":{"rendered":"