YouTube Collecting UK Children’s Data

Duncan McCann, a campaigner, has filed an official complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regarding a site that is collecting information about children’s video-watching habits, including the videos they watch, where they watch them, and on what device. Although YouTube claims to have invested in protecting families and treats all children’s content as though children were viewing it, even on adult accounts, Mr McCann alleges that the data is being collected by default on family devices that are not registered as children’s accounts.

The ICO children’s code, which was introduced in 2020, requires tech firms to provide a high level of privacy for children by default and not use design features that encourage them to provide more data. Firms that breach the children’s internet code may face large fines. YouTube has a separate children’s app called YouTube Kids and a “supervised experience” that requires parental consent. Although Mr McCann is acting in a personal capacity, he works for the 5Rights Foundation, which has championed the code. The ICO will carefully consider the complaint. In 2019, YouTube was fined $170m for violating children’s privacy laws by collecting data on children under 13 without parental consent. YouTube changed its practices as a result, said Stephanie Hare, author of Technology is Not Neutral.