YouTube slapped with million-dollar fine by Feds for kids advertising violations
After it was slapped with a reported million-dollar fine, YouTube has plans to end children's targeted ads on certain videos targeting youngsters in order to comply with the Federal Trade Commission.
YouTube 's move comes to avoid its continuing violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Act (COPPA). By uploading specific ads aimed at kids that are placed in videos for a young crowd, sources speaking to Bloomberg claimed YouTube has been taking advantage of young viewers.
This news comes after reports by The Washington Post that the FTC had begun investigating the online video-streaming company over complaints they were not protecting underage users of their product. These initial complaints included the alleged improper data collection from kid viewers.
The FTC has reached a settlement with the Google-owned company which includes an estimated, "multimillion-dollar fine," for the kid-related violations says Bloomberg which also reports that the news may have an adverse impact on current ad sales for the media giant.
Targeted ads rely on collecting information on the viewer, and doing so on viewers under the age of 13 without parental permission places YouTube in violation of COPPA regulations according to reports.
The news of Youtube's ad strategy comes amid recent controversies over the way the company has addressed young viewers.
Earlier in 2019, YouTube announced that it would be removing the comments on nearly all videos featuring children, in an effort to protect kids from pedophiles and inappropriate comments made on videos published on its platform.
The terms of the agreement between the FTC and YouTube have not been officially released.
