## Facts

- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), acting through the United States, and the State of New York sued Google LLC and its subsidiary YouTube, LLC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Civil Action No. 1:19-cv-02642).
- Plaintiffs alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the COPPA Rule (16 C.F.R. pt. 312), enforceable through the FTC Act.
- YouTube allowed channel owners to earn revenue by enabling Google to place advertising on their channels, with revenue shared with creators.
- To target ads, Google and YouTube allegedly collected data about individual viewers’ viewing habits using cookies and other persistent identifiers.
- Plaintiffs alleged that a significant number of YouTube channels were directed to children (e.g., videos featuring children’s characters, nursery rhymes, toys, and child-oriented games).
- Plaintiffs alleged that Google and YouTube told advertisers and brand clients that YouTube was a strong way to reach children, supporting the allegation that defendants knew child-directed viewing occurred on the platform.
- For viewers of child-directed channels, plaintiffs alleged defendants collected “personal information” (including persistent identifiers) from children under 13 without providing required notice to parents and without obtaining verifiable parental consent.
- Plaintiffs alleged defendants benefited financially by serving behaviorally targeted advertising tied to child-directed viewing.

## Issues

1. Whether Google and YouTube violated COPPA and the COPPA Rule by collecting personal information from viewers of child-directed YouTube channels, including persistent identifiers used for targeted advertising, without providing parental notice and obtaining verifiable parental consent.
2. Whether injunctive relief and civil penalties were appropriate to resolve the alleged COPPA Rule violations.

## Decision

- The matter resolved through a stipulated settlement rather than a litigated merits decision.
- The court entered a Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Civil Penalty Judgment in September 2019.
- Google and YouTube agreed to pay $170 million in civil penalties, allocated $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to the State of New York.
- The permanent injunction required Google and YouTube to implement measures enabling identification of child-directed content on YouTube (including mechanisms for channel owners to designate child-directed content) so the service could apply COPPA requirements to that content.
- The order required notice and related steps tied to the collection, use, or disclosure of children’s personal information, including obtaining verifiable parental consent where COPPA requires it.
- The order imposed ongoing compliance obligations (including monitoring and record-retention requirements) intended to support enforcement of the injunction.

## Legal Principles

- COPPA and the COPPA Rule require operators of child-directed websites or online services—and operators with actual knowledge they collect personal information from children under 13—to provide notice of their data practices and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing children’s personal information, subject to regulatory exceptions.
- Persistent identifiers (such as cookies and similar identifiers) can qualify as “personal information” under COPPA when used to recognize a user over time or across services, including for targeted advertising.
- A violation of the COPPA Rule is treated as an unfair or deceptive act or practice under § 5 of the FTC Act, allowing the government to seek civil penalties and injunctive relief.
- When parties resolve a COPPA enforcement action through a stipulated federal-court order, the operative “decision” is the consent judgment’s remedies (penalties and injunctive obligations), which are enforceable as a permanent injunction.

## Conclusion

In FTC and New York v. Google and YouTube, the FTC and New York alleged that YouTube collected children’s personal information—through cookies and other persistent identifiers—on child-directed channels without the notice and verifiable parental consent COPPA requires; the case ended in a court-entered stipulated order imposing $170 million in civil penalties and ongoing obligations designed to identify child-directed content and ensure COPPA-required notice, consent, and compliance controls.


FTC and New York v. Google and YouTube, Case No 1:19-cv-2642 (2019)