What is COPPA and How Did YouTube Violate It?

by Mitchol Dunham and Will Hanisch

                COPPA was passed with the intent of protecting children from online dangers. COPPA required the FTC to create rules that will govern the online collection of personal information from children aged 12 and under.[1] In summary, the rules passed by the FTC require that a website: (1) disclose to parents the website’s data collection practices regarding children under 13; (2) provide notice to parents about those practices; (3) obtain consent from the parent to use his or her child’s data; (4) give the parent full control over his or her child’s data; and (5) not require more personal information than is reasonably necessary to allow a child to use the website.

                The dispute between the FTC, the New York Attorney General, and YouTube centers around the use of tracking cookies to serve personalized advertisements (specifically the use of persistent identifiers for behavioral advertising). YouTube allows for two types of advertisement: contextual advertising and behavioral advertising. By default, a channel that monetizes through advertisement revenue is set up to use behavioral advertising[2], which places a cookie on the user’s device and tracks “the viewer’s online activities to serve advertising that is specifically tailored to the viewer’s inferred interests.”[3] While channels can opt-out of behavioral advertising and opt for contextual advertising; this generates less revenue for the channel.[4]

                In various statements and presentations to potential advertisers, YouTube branded itself as one of or the most popular destinations for kids, including those under 13.[5] Despite this branding, YouTube asserted that channels do not need to comply with COPPA because they “don’t have users that are below 13 on YouTube and platform/site is general audience, so there is no channel/content that is child-directed and no COPPA compliance is needed.”[6] These two statements are inconsistent, and this lead to the complaint being filed by the FTC and the New York Attorney General which alleged that Google and YouTube violated requirements (1), (2), and (3).

[1] Federal Trade Commission, Protecting Children’s Privacy Under COPPA: A Survey on Compliance 1 (Apr. 2002).

[2] In re Google LLC & YouTube LLC, FTC File No. 172-3083, 7 (Sept. 4, 2019) (complaint).

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id. at 8–9.