Youtube fined in US after violating children's privacy law
The Federal Trade Commission in the US is fining Google's video site YouTube $136 million (€123.4 million) to settle allegations it collected children's personal data without their parents' consent.
Google will pay an additional $34 million (€30.1 million) to New York state to resolve similar allegations brought by the state's attorney general.
The fine marks the largest the FTC has levelled against Google, although it is dwarfed by the $5 billion (€4.5 billion) fine the agency imposed against fellow tech giant Facebook earlier this year for privacy violations.
The FTC found that YouTube violated a law that requires parental consent before companies can collect children's personal information.
YouTube has said its service is intended for ages 13 and older, although younger children commonly watch videos on the site and many popular YouTube channels feature cartoons or singalongs made for children.
