YouTube, the world's leading video platform, finds itself in hot water yet again over its advertising policies concerning children. Fresh research from the ad quality platform, Adalytics, suggests YouTube might be infringing child safety laws by serving adult-oriented ads on content designed specifically for kids. Some of these ads reportedly carried content deemed unsuitable for children, such as intense car accidents, medical traumas, and mature-rated TV show snippets.
Furthermore, Adalytics discovered that certain website links within these ads transmitted cookies, potentially enabling the delivery of targeted ads to young viewers. This is contrary to Google's own advertising guidelines, which mandate that ads displayed on child-friendly content must not utilize third-party trackers or harvest personal data without parental consent. Google's vice president of global ads, Dan Taylor, responded to these allegations, deeming the Adalytics report as "deeply flawed". He reaffirmed, "We do not allow third-party trackers on ads shown on kid-friendly YouTube content."
This fresh controversy has caught the attention of Senators Ed Markey and Marsha Blackburn. Both senators have penned a letter to the FTC Chair, Lina Khan, urging a comprehensive investigation into these findings. They stressed potential violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which mandates digital platforms to seek parental consent before accumulating data from users below 13 years.
The @nytimes just reported that YouTube and Google might be tracking and targeting children on their platform without parental consent—violating their consent decree and my law, COPPA. This is egregious behavior and @MarshaBlackburn and I are calling on the FTC to investigate. https://t.co/jKcJXDbdtq pic.twitter.com/66AEZTploG
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) August 17, 2023
Advertisers are also being impacted by these revelations. Prominent firms like IPG Mediabrands have reportedly advised their clientele to momentarily halt ads on YouTube, as reported by Insider.
This isn't Google's first encounter with such allegations. Another report from Adalytics earlier suggested that Google misled advertisers concerning ad placements. While Google termed this research as flawed, Ad Age highlighted that an ad agency executive had mentioned Google providing refunds to certain clients over inconsistencies. Google representatives have stated such credits are part of standard business practice to strengthen ties with advertisers.
As YouTube's ad policies are once again under the microscope, the implications of this report could be vast, with potential policy changes and tighter regulations on the horizon.
