Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is fining Google $170 million following the agency’s investigation into YouTube over alleged violations of a children’s privacy law.
In the settlement, the FTC and the New York Attorney General allege that the Google marketed its video platform, YouTube, to advertisers knowing that many channels were popular with younger audiences. It also alleges that the company tracked the viewing histories of children in order to serve them ads, which violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The $170 million fine is the largest COPPA fine to date, dwarfing the fine TikTok’s parent company received last February for violations of the same law.
“YouTube touted its…