Tech giant Google has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it collected children’s personal data on YouTube without parental consent and used it for targeted advertising.

The lawsuit was filed on August 18 at the federal court in San Jose, California. Google accepted the settlement but continues to deny any wrongdoing. The agreement must now be approved by Judge Susan van Keulen of the Northern District of California.

Google’s Ongoing Privacy Scandals

This is not the first time Google has faced criticism over handling sensitive user data. Last year, the company reached a record-breaking $1.375 billion settlement with Texas over allegations of illegal data tracking — including facial recognition, geolocation, and activity monitoring in Chrome’s Incognito mode.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the agreement an unprecedented step, surpassing all previous state-level settlements with Google.

A similar case occurred back in 2019, when Google paid $170 million to resolve accusations of illegally collecting children’s data on YouTube. At that time, the company was expected to change its practices, though critics argued the penalties were too lenient.

Parents’ Complaints and Lack of Evidence Against Content Creators

In the current case, parents of 34 children under the age of 13 came forward, claiming Google knowingly allowed content creators to attract children with cartoons, nursery rhymes, and other videos in order to collect their personal information.

However, the judge ultimately dismissed part of the allegations, citing insufficient evidence against major media studios such as DreamWorks Animation, Cartoon Network, Hasbro, and Mattel, which were originally listed in the lawsuit.

Settlement and Compensation Distribution

Following the dismissal of certain claims, the parties entered mediation, which led to the recently proposed settlement terms.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs estimate the class action could have affected 35 to 45 million individuals. If just 1–2% of eligible claimants filed for compensation, payouts could reach about $30 to $60 per person, before deducting legal and administrative fees. Attorney fees alone are expected to reach up to $9 million.

Google and Meta Are Not Above the Law

This case comes less than a year after Texas Attorney General Paxton secured a similar deal with Meta, which agreed to pay $1.4 billion for illegally exploiting biometric data from Facebook and Instagram users.

Paxton stressed that even the largest tech companies must be held accountable and that their practices are not beyond the reach of the law.


#Google , #YouTube , #Privacy , #technews , #worldnews

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