Is YouTube spying on your children? FTC complaint warns of improper data collection

Privacy advocates tell The Independent 'this problem is not limited to YouTube'

Consumer groups filed a complaint with federal officials warning that YouTube may be harvesting, analyzing, and selling children's data. (REUTERS)

Privacy advocates have warned that YouTube is not alone in violating children’s privacy law, after a coalition of consumer groups filed a complaint against the Google subsidiary.

More than 20 consumer advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission on Monday to investigate and impose potentially billions of dollars of penalties on Google for allegedly violating children's online privacy and allowing ads to target them.

But Evan Greer, campaign director at digital rights group Fight for the Future, told The Independent the issue extends to other major tech firms.

“This problem is not limited to YouTube,” she said. “Tech companies like Facebook have built a business model based on harvesting, analysing, and selling massive amounts of user data, including data of vulnerable people like children – putting all of us at risk.”

YouTube's business model relies on tracking IP addresses, search history, device identifiers, location and other personal data about its users so that it can gauge their interests and tailor advertising to them.

But that model isn't supposed to work for US children, who are protected by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). It is a 20-year-old law which prohibits internet companies from knowingly collecting personal data from those under 13 without their parents' consent.

The FTC coalition accuses YouTube of violating COPPA and deliberately profiting by luring children into what Jeff Chester, director of the Centre for Digital Democracy, one of the groups that drafted the complaint, calls an "ad-filled digital playground" where commercials for toys, theme parks or sneakers can surface alongside kid-oriented videos.

YouTube said in an emailed statement that it "will read the complaint thoroughly and evaluate if there are things we can do to improve. Because YouTube is not for children, we've invested significantly in the creation of the YouTube Kids app to offer an alternative specifically designed for children."

Although it's not known if the FTC will take action, the complaint comes at a time of increased public scrutiny over the tech industry's mining of personal data and after the FTC opened an investigation last month into Facebook's privacy practices.

FTC spokeswoman Juliana Gruenwald Henderson said in an email that the agency hasn't yet received the letter but looks forward to reviewing it. The complaint was originally scheduled to be filed last week but was delayed after the shooting on Tuesday at YouTube's California headquarters.

"We take enforcement of COPPA very seriously and have brought more than two dozen COPPA cases since the COPPA rule was enacted," she said. The FTC's investigations aren't usually public, but it has previously settled child privacy cases with Yelp, mobile advertising network inMobi and electronic toy-maker VTech.

“The Internet is at a turning point and these companies have a decision to make,” Ms Greer said. “Will they take the necessary steps to ensure that their products are not used to undermine democracy and our basic rights? If so, they should sign on to the SecurityPledge.com pledge outlined by tech and human rights experts."

Additional reporting by agencies.