Bipartisan Letter Demands Info from Google About Data Collection from Children

A bipartisan letter signed by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) has requested that Google CEO Sundar Pichai provide more information about Google’s collection of data on children.

“It has come to our attention that the data collection practices of YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, may not be in compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). We were alerted to this issue through a complaint filed by a coalition of 23 child and privacy advocacy groups,” declared the letter. “The FTC complaint alleges that Google’s YouTube has collected and shared the personally identifiable information of tens of millions of children in violation of COPPA.”

Reps. Cicilline and Fortenberry went on to declare that despite YouTube’s policies against children under the age of 13 using the website, it still targets young children and babies with cartoon content and doesn’t try to stop children from using the platform with “safeguards.”

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