In addition to the monetary penalty, the FTC and the New York AG required Google and YouTube to “develop, implement, and maintain a system that permits channel owners to identify their child-directed content” on the video sharing platform.
Furthermore, the companies must inform channel owners that their child-directed content are subject to COPPA obligations and must provide training to employees regarding complying with the law.
FTC will take aggressive actions against COPPA violators
In a statement, FTC Chairman Joe Simmons, commented, “Our order, which applies to both Google and YouTube, accomplishes three important purposes. First, it imposes a substantial monetary judgment… 30 times larger than the largest COPPA civil penalty the FTC has ever previously obtained. Second, the order requires the companies to refrain from using or benefitting from data that they previously collected from child-directed videos or channels. Third, the order imposes additional obligations on Google and YouTube that go beyond the requirements of COPPA.”
