Child Advocate Claims Google Violated COPPA, Engaged in Deceptive Acts
Google violated the federal children’s privacy law and engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by harming children in various ways related to its Play Store, the Digital Childhood Institute said Friday in a complaint filed with the FTC.
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The Digital Childhood Institute asked the FTC to investigate whether Google knowingly exposed children to harmful content, facilitated exploitative contracts with minors and enabled unlawful data collection. The group claimed that Google allowed third parties to collect children’s data without verifiable parental consent, violating COPPA.
“By outsourcing age ratings to a meaningless two-minute questionnaire and cutting parents out the moment a child turns 13, Google isn’t protecting families,” said DCI President Melissa McKay. “It’s betraying them. This is not child safety. It’s corporate negligence dressed up as responsibility.”
Google didn’t comment.