Google has agreed to pay a $170 million fine ー the largest of its kind ー as part of a settlement over allegations that YouTube violated the law by collecting personal data about children in order to serve them ads.
The terms of the settlement between YouTube-parent Google ($GOOGL) and the FTC and New York state attorney general were announced on Wednesday. Google and YouTube will pay $136 million to the federal government and another $34 million to New York. The FTC says it is the largest penalty ever in a case related to the law known as COPPA, or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which passed in 1998.
The settlement, which had been expected, "sends a strong message to children's content providers and to platforms about their obligation to comply with the COPPA Rule," said FTC Chair Joseph Simons in an accompanying release. Regulators had alleged that YouTube did not tell the viewers of "child-directed" content that they were being tracked. Under COPPA, sites that are aimed at children must ask for and receive parental consent for any data they collect on children under 13.
While the largest fine under COPPA by an order of magnitude, it is still a fraction of the revenue Google brings in from advertising on YouTube. Alphabet, Google's parent, famously refuses to break out YouTube's financial results in its earnings. Analysts estimate that YouTube brings in as much as $25 billion annually. Google generated $137 billion in revenue last year.
Two FTC members voted against the settlement over concerns that it does no go far enough. One member compared it to the recent $5 billion fine levied against Facebook for its privacy missteps. Commissioner Rohit Chopra wrote that the agreement offered "no individual accountability, insufficient remedies to address the company's financial incentives, and a fine that still allows the company to profit from its lawbreaking. The terms of the settlement were not even significant enough to make Google issue a warning to its investors."
Shares of Alphabet were trading fractionally higher following the announcement.
Elon Musk’s X unveiled a feature that lets users see where an account is based. Online sleuths and experts quickly found that many popular accounts, often posting in support of the U.S. MAGA movement with thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, are based outside the U.S. This raises concerns about foreign influence in U.S. politics.
The Enhanced Games is going public in two ways — with a new listing on the Nadsaq stock exchange and also by offering a direct-to-consumer business focused on performance products.
Real estate software company RealPage has agreed to stop sharing nonpublic information between landlords as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice.
Thanksgiving travel is set to smash records as millions fly, drive, and ride despite FAA disruptions and economic uncertainty. Here’s what you need to know.
AI, BNPL and new digital tools are reshaping holiday shopping. PayPal’s Michelle Gill shares survey insights, tech trends, and tips for smarter spending in 2025
'The Chair Company' blends sharp satire with workplace conspiracy. Lake Bell joins us to talk its corporate themes, quirky characters, and why viewers love it!
It's a tough time for the job market. Amid wider economic uncertainty, some analysts have said that businesses are at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill. At the same time, some sizeable layoffs have continued to pile up — raising worker anxieties across sectors. Some companies have pointed to rising operational costs due to U.S.'s new tariffs, while others have redirected money to artificial intelligence investments. Workers in the public sector have also been hit hard. Federal jobs were cut by the thousands earlier this year. And many workers are now going without pay as the U.S. government shutdown has now dragged on for more than a month.
