A federal judge in California has refused to dismiss Google and YouTube from a proposed class action lawsuit accusing them of unlawfully collecting children’s data to serve targeted ads. However, the judge has removed Cartoon Network, DreamWorks, Hasbro Studios, and several other owners of popular child-friendly YouTube channels from the long-running legal dispute.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen issued a 34-page ruling on Monday, solidifying her earlier tentative decision to allow privacy claims and some state consumer protection law claims to proceed against Google. These claims were filed by children under the age of 13 who watched videos on YouTube, alleging the company violated privacy protections by gathering data without parental consent.
Previously, the court had dismissed earlier versions of the plaintiffs’ claims based on the California Constitution’s right to privacy and intrusion upon seclusion. The judge ruled that Google’s data collection, while extensive, was not sufficiently “highly offensive” to sustain the privacy claims.
