Just before the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the web leaders are facing a lot of accusations of illegal processing of personal data. Right after the great scandal of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, it is now Google and Youtube which are accused of such facts.

    Indeed, on April 9th, 2018, several associations filed a lawsuit to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accusing Youtube and its parent company Google to illegally processing personal data of children under 13 years old of the online content broadcast platform. In particular, it is location data, information concerning the device used to go on Youtube and even cell phone numbers which were collected, in order to make targeted advertising for children.
According to these associations, Google and Youtube do not respect an important text concerning children right’s on the Internet, which is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), stating among other things that if a website wants to make targeted advertising for children, it has to get the express consent of their parents. The association explained that Youtube does not allow children under 13 years old to get an account, but the problem is that there is a lot of content intended for children. Thus, Youtube does not get the consent of the parents to process the children’s data, which is an issue regarding the COPPA.
Is the case of Google and Youtube illegally processing children’s data without the consent of parents a new large-scale scandal?