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Google will reportedly face a multimillion dollar fine after an FTC investigation found that YouTube was in violation of children's privacy laws
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Google will reportedly face a multimillion dollar fine after an FTC investigation found that YouTube was in violation of children's privacy laws

Susan Wojcicki

  • The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reportedly finalized a settlement with Google after an investigation found that YouTube was in violation of federal children's privacy laws.
  • Speficially, the investigation found that YouTube was collecting data of children under the age of 13 on its video-platform - a violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
  • The Washington Post report, which cites two people familiar with the matter, said the fine would likely be in the "multimillion-dollar" mark.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reportedly finalized a settlement with Google after an investigation found that YouTube was in violation of children's privacy laws.

Specifically, the investigation found in part that YouTube had been collecting the data of children under the age of 13 - a violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The Washington Post report, which cites two people familiar with the matter, said the fine would likely be in the "multimillion-dollar" range, but the exact amount has yet to be learned. The report indicates that the FTC's three Republican members are in favor of the settlement, while the two Democrats are against.

Google declined Business Insider's request for comment.

Read more: YouTube is reportedly being investigated by the FTC over how it handles children's videos, and it may result in fundamental changes to the platform

With news of the FTC investigation swirling since June, Google has been reportedly considering fundamental changes to its video platform to protect children, including moving all children's content to YouTube Kids, a secondary app with increased moderation. YouTube has also considered disabling the platform's recommendation feature for children's programming, according to reports.

This year, YouTube has already removed more than 800,000 videos that violated its child safety policies.

In February, the FTC levied a $5.7 million fine at TikTok, a video app aimed at teens, for not requiring parental consent before collecting data from users under the age of 13. Such a practice, the FTC decided, was in violation of COPPA.

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