YouTube is not doing enough to protect children accessing the platform

Despite a curb on targeted ads, Google is not doing enough to protect kids from the dangers lurking on the platform.

In theory YouTube has a minimum age of 13 but it is widely used by younger children. Picture: Getty

YouTube is to stop running targeted adverts on children’s videos to try to appease regulators but campaigners say the move does not go far enough.

The video platform, which is owned by Google, is finalising plans to stop running “behavioural” ads on videos that children are likely to watch, according to sources.

It is thought that the move, reported by Bloomberg, is intended to allay regulators’ concerns about infringement of children’s privacy as such ads rely on collecting extensive information about the viewer by means such as cookies that track web browsing. US laws in effect prohibit companies from showing the ads to under-13s without parental permission. European laws hold companies to higher standards when handling children’s data.

However, Google has stopped short of proactive moves to prevent children from using the site, which has been used by paedophiles to target children and has featured footage of self-harm. In theory the site has a minimum age of 13 but it is widely used by younger children to access cartoons.

Critics have suggested that Google should ban children’s videos, introduce age-verification measures or disable all adverts on videos that are aimed at under-13s.

According to Bloomberg, Google will stop short of such measures. It will continue to run ads on children’s videos, but they will be “contextual” ads, with the topic based on the content of the video rather than data gathered on the viewer. Children’s browsing will still be tracked when they view clips not “directed at children”. Even so, the curb on targeted ads will cost Google up to $74 million a year, analysts estimate.

Google and other large tech companies are lobbying against proposed rules from the Information Commissioner’s Office that would require them to verify users’ ages or protect all users as if they were children. Breaches would be penalised by large fines. The Internet Association, which represents the big tech firms, said that, for “technical, operational and legal reasons”, its requirements were not “feasible or desirable”.

This age-appropriate design code comes in addition to legal changes that are expected to result from the online harms white paper published in April.

The US Federal Trade Commission is looking at whether YouTube breached the Children’s Online Privacy Act and has come to a settlement with Google on undisclosed terms. It is not known whether the reported change to its ad policy is a result of the deal.

Jay Harman, policy lead at the 5Rights Foundation, a network of children’s campaigners, academics, lawyers and technologists, said: “YouTube is still proposing to profit from under-13s who are not supposed to be on the site. There’s no suggestion that YouTube will stop collecting children’s information in the first place and there are no guarantees about what they’ll do with it once they have it.”

Google did not comment on the claims. It said that responsibility was a top priority and a critical part of this was protecting children and families.

The Times