Four nonprofit organizations dedicated to safeguarding children’s online privacy have formally requested the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to initiate an investigation into the practices of YouTube. The groups’ joint appeal follows consecutive reports alleging that YouTube continues to direct personalized advertisements towards videos “designed for kids.”
According to the groups’ letter, the urgency of the situation necessitates the FTC’s intervention to scrutinize YouTube’s data usage and advertising methodologies. Failure to take action could lead to YouTube persisting in its alleged data collection from millions of children, potentially breaching the regulations outlined in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the FTC Act.
The initial report, which questioned YouTube’s compliance with federal regulations, emerged last week from Analytics. Subsequently, Fairplay, one of the organizations supporting the FTC appeal, corroborated the findings. According to The New York Times, both entities conducted advertising campaigns to assess YouTube’s assertion that personalized ads were blocked entirely on channels oriented towards children. Surprisingly, both investigations uncovered that “Google and YouTube permit and report on behavioural ad targeting on ‘made-for-kids’ videos, even though neither should be possible under COPPA.”
Growing Concerns over YouTube’s Compliance with Child Privacy Regulations
Google’s spokesperson, Michael Aciman, responded to these reports, stating that they reflected a “fundamental misunderstanding of how advertising works on made-for-kids content.” Aciman clarified that personalized ad targeting is not permitted on content tailored for children and that advertisers are prohibited from directing ads towards children across any of Google’s products.
However, the coalition of child advocates expressed scepticism in their letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan, raising doubts about the veracity of Google’s claims regarding ad targeting. After conducting its targeted ad campaigns, Fairplay reported that YouTube had placed behavioural ads on children’s channels 1,446 times. According to Fairplay, if YouTube had been adhering to COPPA guidelines as it asserted, these campaigns should have yielded no ad placements at all.
The insights gathered from Fairplay’s advertisements only show what various groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy, Common Sense Media, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have communicated to the FTC. They collectively view a significant child privacy issue on YouTube that requires substantial corrective measures.
YouTube is bound by an FTC consent decree mandating adherence to COPPA regulations. This follows a $170 million fine imposed on the platform in 2019 for breaching child privacy laws. The FTC noted in 2019 that this penalty marked the highest sum ever obtained in a COPPA case since the law’s establishment in 1998. However, child advocacy organizations are raising concerns that a second FTC investigation into YouTube might result in a penalty surpassing the 2019 record fine. Their letter suggested that if the FTC inquiry uncovers millions of COPPA violations, the Commission should pursue civil penalties that could amount to tens of billions of dollars.
Calls for Stricter Enforcement and Enhanced Safeguards for Children’s Data on YouTube
Josh Golin, Fairplay’s executive director, told Forbes, “If Google and YouTube are violating COPPA and flouting their settlement agreement with the Commission, the FTC should seek the maximum fine for every single violation of COPPA and injunctive relief befitting a repeat offender.”
Golin expressed to Ars that he was taken aback when Analytics published its recent report, indicating that YouTube might be willing to repeat its oversight regarding COPPA compliance.
Golin further mentioned that imposing more substantial fines could be necessary to incentivize YouTube to implement more robust measures to safeguard children on its platform. He suggested that, instead of relying on YouTube’s self-regulation of data collection, the platform should be obligated to obtain parental consent for any data collection involving young users—or consider discontinuing the monetization of data related to minors.
Ars reached out for a comment from Google, but the company has not responded.
Advocacy for Stricter FTC Measures Regarding Youth Data Privacy
Golin told Ars that the FTC seems remarkably intolerant towards tech companies that repeatedly breach privacy laws. Fairplay found encouragement in the FTC’s proposal earlier this year, which outright prohibited Facebook from capitalizing on youth data subsequent to the company’s violation of a privacy order in 2020.
In a letter from his organization to the FTC, they recommended injunctions that would similarly forbid YouTube from monetizing any youth data. Furthermore, they emphasized a crucial point: “YouTube should be mandated to relocate all ‘made for kids’ videos to YouTube Kids, and concurrently eliminate such videos from the primary YouTube platform.”
Rebecca Kelly Slaughter is one of the FTC commissioners tasked with evaluating the requests made by child advocates. Slaughter has historically displayed limited confidence in YouTube’s capability to adhere to the consent decree.
Controversy Surrounding Targeted Ads on YouTube and Children’s Privacy
According to recent reports by Analytics and Fairplay, there are allegations that YouTube is displaying targeted ads using persistent identifiers that could potentially track children’s activities on the platform. There are concerns that this data might also be sold. Fairplay has contacted the FTC, outlining four primary areas of worry. They are urging the FTC to investigate whether YouTube is unlawfully tracking users who watch videos intended for children, showing personalized ads on these videos, employing identifiers that are then shared with third parties, and even promoting its products within content meant for children.
Google, the parent company of YouTube, has contested the claims made in these reports. A YouTube spokesperson recently told The Hill that Fairplay’s allegations are baseless. They explained that the claims are drawn from the mere presence of cookies, commonly used for fraud detection and limiting ad frequency – both of which are allowed under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Although child advocates haven’t directly accused YouTube of violating COPPA regulations, they have emphasized that it’s the role of the FTC to investigate and determine any potential noncompliance.
