The Federal Trade Commission has voted to fine Google $150 million to $200 million to settle accusations that its YouTube subsidiary illegally collected personal information about children, according to three people briefed on the matter. (NYT)
The FTC voted 3-2 along party lines to approve the settlement, sending it over to the Justice Department as part of the review process. (Politico)
The whopping settlement figure speaks to the closer scrutiny government agencies are paying to tech platforms, and a shifting sentiment in Washington. Lobbyists for traditional media companies have long complained that Silicon Valley companies weren’t getting the rigorous attention from federal regulators, including when it came to the way that children’s programming is regulated on broadcast platforms. (Deadline)
YouTube has a separate app for kids, and it launched a website version of YouTube Kids last week. The site asks kids to get parental consent to start viewing and offers a simple math problem as a way to gauge whether the person unlocking the website is really an adult. (HuffPost / AP)