What YouTube's $170M privacy fine means for kids' channels
Internet Culture
Google will be paying a record 170 million dollar fine to the Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations that YouTube illegally collected personal information from children without parents consent.
This is the largest fine for a children's online privacy protection act ever and the law came into effect in 1998.
It'll be $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to New York.
The allegations were that YouTube violated COPPA by using tracking identifiers on people who watched channels specifically for children without getting parents' consent.
You know, a major part of YouTube.
Yeah, that's like a whole economy out there, isn't that?
Yeah.
And yeah, you're right.
It is a major part because YouTube earned millions of dollars using those tracking cookies and delivering targeted ads based on people who watch those videos.
Most likely children with this settlement this basically mean means you know a lot of trouble for people that make content specifically for children on YouTube.
YouTube will have to develop a system where children targeted channels have to identify themselves as so.
They won't be able to comment on it, they won't be able to send notifications or anything like that.
And the ads aren't gonna be things that could be tracked on your behavior, just generic ads.
Yeah, and basically, $170 million might sound like a lot.
But I mean, the votes still came down at three two.
If the center is saying that the find was not strong enough They make that in 11 hours.
Yeah, it's not any money to Google and YouTube.
I mean, it's just yeah, Senator Ed Markey, who had written the copper bill back in 1998 had released a statement after the fine came out and noted you know, the FTC like stands for forgetting teens and children arguing that Spicy
this amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist for YouTube and Google
because you know that they knew, like, it's one thing.
It's like, Gosh, what a mistake, you know, and they knew what was going on in the background and this law has been around since 98.
You said right so yeah It's not like it's a secret.>>If anything, this is more so gonna impact these channels on YouTube that are making content for children specifically because we're also making a lot of money off of us.
Anyone who has a kid knows that YouTube and Nursery Rhymes is like, Like just a whole economy out there just like playing those wheels on the bus videos over and over again.
The good news is if you have one of those channels they these changes won't be coming for another four months so you still have a good amount of time to look for alternatives to YouTube but, I mean good luck.
Well I think it's, okay.
It's like a yay moment like maybe to finally do something with.
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