New research findings by Adalytics show Google may have been tracking and targeting children with ads for adult products on YouTube using an ad-targeting system powered by artificial intelligence.
Adalytics Finds YouTube Ads for Adult Products Are Shown to Children
Adalytics said it found over 300 brands’ ads for adult products, like cars, displayed on 100 YouTube videos for kids. The ads were particularly shown to a user not signed in on YouTube and linked back to the advertisers’ websites, which would tag the user’s browser with tracking software from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other companies.
The New York Times reported an instance where ads for credit cards by BMO, a Canadian bank, were displayed to a viewer in the United States on a Barbie-themed children’s video on the “Kids Diana Show” YouTube channel. The ads were run using an ad-targeting system from Google called “Performance Max” which leverages artificial intelligence to pinpoint ideal customers.
The findings are a concern because tracking the data of children below the age of 13 for the purpose of ads without parental consent violates federal privacy law, especially the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act or COPPA.
Citing Adalytics’ report, US Senators Edward J. Markey and Marsha Blackburn on Thursday urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Google and YouTube violated COPPA. The senators worry that the tech giant may have facilitated “the vast collection and distribution” of millions of children’s data for ad-targeting purposes.
“This behavior by YouTube and Google is estimated to have impacted hundreds of thousands, to potentially millions, of children across the United States,” the senators told FTC.
Google Denies Violating COPPA
A spokesperson for Google, Michael Aciman, responded to the report by Adalytics on Thursday, saying the findings were “deeply flawed and misleading.” However, Aciman did not refute claims that ads for adult products are displayed on YouTube videos designated for kids.
Aciman reportedly said running such ads on children’s videos is useful because parents who were watching could become customers. The spokesman explained that Google does not run personalized ads on children’s videos, but rather it bases the ads on webpage content previously viewed by the users – a practice Aciman says fully complies with COPPA.
Regarding the data collection and tracking that happen after viewers click on an ad, Google said it does not have the ability to control it on a brand’s website. According to Aciman, users’ data can be collected even when they click on ads shown on different websites.
Google Settled with FTC for $170 Million
The tech giant has previously been accused of violating federal privacy laws in the past. In 2019, Google was accused by the Federal Trade Commission and the State of New York of illegally collecting the personal information of children watching kids’ videos on YouTube.
In September 2019, Google paid a $170 million fine to the FTC in settlement of the accusation. YouTube then agreed not to collect and stop serving personalized ads on children’s videos.
