Britain’s information regulator said on Wednesday it would look into an official complaint accusing Alphabet’s YouTube of illegally collecting data from millions of children.
The complaint from father-of-three Duncan McCann, who is leading the campaign and is supported by his employer, advocacy group 5Rights, said the video-streaming platform violated the newly introduced law by “using location, viewing habits and preferences”. of up to 5 million children.
Countries have struggled to find the right balance with protective laws social media Users, especially children, from harmful content without interfering with freedom of expression.
McCann said so in a statement youtube should change the design of its platform and delete collected data.
“It’s a massive, unlicensed social experiment on our children with uncertain consequences,” McCann said.
A spokesman for YouTube said it has taken steps to strengthen children’s privacy with more protective default settings and has made investments to protect children and families by launching a dedicated children’s app and introducing new data practices.
“We remain committed to continuing our engagement with the ICO on this priority work and with other key stakeholders including children, parents and child safeguarding professionals,” the YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it would look into the complaint carefully.
“The Children’s Code makes it clear that children are not like adults online and that their data needs to be protected in a meaningful way,” Stephen Bonner, deputy officer for regulatory oversight at the ICO, said in a statement.
The UK Children’s Code requires providers to meet 15 design and privacy standards to protect children, including restricting the collection of their location and other personally identifiable information.
In 2019, YouTube was fined US$170 million (nearly Rs. 1,400 crore) by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations that it violated federal laws by sharing personal information about collected children.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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