Google will pay a fine of $170 million dollars to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and New York State Attorney General to settle an investigation into alleged violations of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by its subsidiary video sharing platform, YouTube. The amount of the settlement is the largest fine imposed by the FTC in a case involving children’s privacy. The record was set just earlier this year for $5.7 million by the app TikTok for children’s privacy violations (originally referred to the FTC by CARU!). The investigation concerned the collection of children’s personal data and user activity without the consent of their parents. This information was then utilized to target ads at children. COPPA prohibits online service providers, such as YouTube, from collecting personal data from children under the age of 13 without their parent’s permission.  In addition to the fine, as part of the settlement, YouTube agreed to take further action ...

Bloomberg is reporting that YouTube may be finalizing plans to end "targeted" advertising on videos that children are likely to watch. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been looking into whether YouTube violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The agency is rumored to have reached a settlement with YouTube though terms of such a deal have yet to be released. Currently YouTube offers two types of ads: one is contextual solely based on the content of the video and the other is targeted, based on a user's behavior. The latter requires companies to obtain parental consent before doing. According to reports from Bloomberg, the proposal would only end targeted ads. The rumored proposal, would not please complainants who submitted a complaint asking that YouTube move all content to a designated app for children. Joseph Simons, the FTC chairman asked in July if the groups would be satisfied if YouTube disabled ads on such videos. This rumored p...

Facebook has been in the news A LOT in the past few days. We decided to round up everything going on to help our wonderful followers stay up to date!  The biggest news of course is that in addition to a historic $5 billion settlement, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Facebook have announced “ sweeping new privacy restrictions ” to be implemented on the social media platform. The $5 billion penalty is the largest ever to be imposed against a company for violation of consumers’ privacy. This morning, this penalty was officially disclosed in addition to a stipulated order that can be read in its entirety here . Many have been critical that the FTC did not go far enough in imposing high enough of a penalty. However, at the press conference this morning, Commissioner Phillips made a point to note that "this penalty is to pay for the wrongs of this case, not to vindicate every consumer in the U.S." After a year-long investigation, the Department of Justice...

Following a congressional oversight hearing that took place last November the FTC is set to have a workshop on August 7 th titled “ Inside the Game: Unlocking the Consumer Issues Surrounding Loot Boxes .” “The workshop will bring together a variety of stakeholders, including industry representatives, consumer advocates, trade associations, academics, and government officials to discuss concerns regarding the marketing and use of loot boxes and other in-game purchases, and the potential behavioral impact of these virtual rewards on young consumers.” “ FTC staff also welcomes written comments on the issues discussed at the workshop. Public comments should be  submitted online  by 11:59 pm ET on October 11, 2019.” More information about the workshop can be found here