Google, YouTube content providers must face US children鈥檚 privacy lawsuit

That law gives the FTC and state attorneys general, but not private plaintiffs, the authority to regulate the online collection of personal data about children under age 13. (AFP/File)
Short Url
  • Google and several other companies are accused of tracking activity without parental consent

LONDON: A US appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit accusing Alphabet Inc鈥檚 Google and several other companies of violating the privacy of children under age 13 by tracking their YouTube activity without parental consent, in order to send them targeted advertising.
The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle said Congress did not intend to pre-empt state law-based privacy claims by adopting the federal Children鈥檚 Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.
That law gives the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, but not private plaintiffs, the authority to regulate the online collection of personal data about children under age 13.
The lawsuit alleged that Google鈥檚 data collection violated similar state laws, and that YouTube content providers such as Hasbro Inc, Mattel Inc, the Cartoon Network and DreamWorks Animation lured children to their channels, knowing that they would be tracked.
In July 2021, US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Francisco dismissed the lawsuit, saying the federal privacy law pre-empted the plaintiffs鈥� claims under California, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Tennessee law.
But in Wednesday鈥檚 3-0 decision, Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown said the federal law鈥檚 wording made it 鈥渘onsensical鈥� to assume Congress intended to bar the plaintiffs from invoking state laws targeting the same alleged misconduct.
The case was returned to Freeman to consider other grounds that Google and the content providers might have to dismiss it.
Lawyers for Google and the content providers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The children鈥檚 lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
In October 2019, Google agreed to pay $170 million to settle charges by the FTC and New York Attorney General Letitia James that YouTube illegally collected children鈥檚 personal data without parental consent.
The plaintiffs in the San Francisco case said Google did not begin complying with COPPA until January 2020.
Their lawsuit sought damages for YouTube users age 16 and younger from July 2013 to April 2020.