“Today, CCFC and the Center for Digital Democracy took a groundbreaking step to protect children’s privacy: We filed a Federal Trade Commission Complaint detailing how Google is breaking the law by collecting personal data from children on YouTube without parental consent. Our landmark complaint is supported by a coalition of 23 consumer and privacy groups. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, is the only federal law regulating how to handle kids’ online data, and its demands are relatively straightforward: if you run a site for kids, or if you know kids are using your site, you need to a) tell their parents exactly what kind of personal data you collect, and b) get verifiable parental permission before you gather any information from or about kids. There’s other stuff, too, but those are the basic requirements, and Google doesn’t even try to meet them. Instead, their privacy policy says that YouTube isn’t for children under 13, and that kids shouldn’t use it.  But actions and ad contracts speak louder than fine-printed privacy policies. YouTube is one of the most popular kids’ website in the world, and they know it. Eighty percent of American 6 – 12 year olds use YouTube, and in 2017, it was the most recognizable brand among kids 6 – 12. Many of YouTube’s most successful channels feature nursery rhyme videos, cartoons, toy ads, and other content designed to capture young children’s attention. YouTube provides how-to guides for creators making videos for kids. Google even runs a program called Google Preferred that lets advertisers pay extra money to get their ads onto the most popular kid-directed channels, like Ryan Toy Review and ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs…”