YouTube accused of aiming ads at kids after promising it wouldn't do that
(2023/08/18)
- Reference: 1692321911
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/18/youtube_advertising_kids/
- Source link:
YouTube has allegedly been tracking children online and targeting them with personalized ads, potentially in violation of its agreement with the FTC and of the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), according to a report released on Thursday.
Google, which was [1]sued in June for allegedly invading children's privacy in Android apps through its Designed For Families program, insists its YouTube service has not broken the law nor its own policies on advertising to children. And the web giant challenged the report as misleading.
Ad metrics firm Adalytics [2]claims that despite YouTube's September 4, 2019 [3]consent decree with the FTC to stop targeting kids with ads and CEO Susan Wojcicki's [4]commitment that day to "stop serving personalized ads" in " [5]made for kids " videos, the online video giant continues to serve targeted adverts to minors.
[6]
The Adalytics alleges that YouTube appears to set long-lasting cookies specifically for ad targeting and tracking in the browsers of users who are watching YouTube videos labeled "for kids." It also suggested the video-streaming titan serves "behaviorally and demographically targeted ads on YouTube videos that are clearly labeled as 'for kids.'"
[7]
[8]
And, it claims, YouTube's mobile app for iOS "sets and shares a unique ad tracking ID every time a viewer on a 'for kids' channel clicks on a YouTube ad."
In addition, the report claims, clicking on an ad adjacent to a "for kids" video in the app leads YouTube to open an advertiser's website "in a special in-app 'webview' browser, where Google both sets various ad targeting and tracker IDs on the viewer’s iPhone, and the YouTube app allows other data brokers and ad personalization vendors to gather and share unique identifiers on the viewer."
[9]
Labeled screenshot of YouTube ad network traffic, taken from the Adalytics report ... Click to enlarge
The report identifies 313 brands with ads for consumer products aimed at adults (eg, cars, razors, etc) that appeared on YouTube videos marked "for kids" when there was no signed-in user.
A 'misleading report' Google claims
In a statement to The Register , a Google spokesperson said, "There is no evidence that Google and YouTube violated their 2019 agreement with the FTC."
"This is the second time in recent weeks that Adalytics has published a deeply flawed and misleading report," Google's person claimed. "Personalized advertising has never been allowed on YouTube Kids, and in January 2020 we expanded this to anyone watching 'made for kids' content on YouTube, regardless of their age.
[10]
"The report makes completely false claims and draws uninformed conclusions based solely on the presence of cookies, which are widely used in these contexts for the purposes of fraud detection and frequency capping — both of which are permitted under COPPA. The portions of this report that were shared with us didn’t identify a single example of these policies being violated."
The report begins with a disclaimer that says it's not offering any legal opinion. Rather, it flags client-side identifiers – eg, those contained in cookies – that play a role in advertising. How these identifiers get used is central to the claims made by Adalytics. If YouTube is in fact setting unique identifiers that can be used to track kids online, and is doing so without parental consent, that's potentially [11]a violation of COPPA.
[12]Google accused of urging Android devs to mislabel apps to get forbidden kids ad data
[13]Google wants to target you – yes, YOU – with AI-generated ads
[14]Social media may harm kids. US Surgeon General says so
[15]Utah outlaws kids' social media addiction, sets digital curfew
Paul Lekas, head of global public policy at the Software and Information Industry Association, a trade group that counts Google as a member, told The Register that the presence of cookies – allowed under COPPA for certain uses – does not mean anything unlawful has occurred.
"Under COPPA, it is appropriate for there to be cookies on kid-oriented sites," he said. "There are some limitations and from what I've seen, it's not clear that [Adalytics has] shown that there's been any conduct or evidence that has actually gone beyond those limitations."
Google insists that cookies used with "made for kids" content are used for permissible purposes such as measurement, fraud prevention, and frequency capping – ensuring things like individual ads aren't shown too many times to someone.
[16]
Nonetheless, two US Senators – Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) – found the allegations sufficiently alarming to ask FTC Chair Lina Khan see whether Adalytics' findings can be substantiated.
"YouTube and Google cannot continue treating young people’s data as an unprotected commodity from which to profit with abandon," the lawmakers [17]said in a letter to the FTC Chair.
"Not only must the FTC Act, but Congress must also pass legislation to protect young people’s privacy online and finally ban targeted advertising to kids and teens." ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/google_childrens_privacy_lawsuit/
[2] https://adalytics.io/blog/are-youtube-ads-coppa-compliant
[3] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations-childrens-privacy-law
[4] https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/an-update-on-kids/
[5] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9528076
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/08/17/adalytics_report_image.jpg
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/google_childrens_privacy_lawsuit/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/25/google_ai_ads/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/23/us_surgeon_general_report_warns/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/utah_social_media_laws/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-blackburn-demand-ftc-investigate-youtube-google-for-suspected-violations-of-childrens-privacy
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Google, which was [1]sued in June for allegedly invading children's privacy in Android apps through its Designed For Families program, insists its YouTube service has not broken the law nor its own policies on advertising to children. And the web giant challenged the report as misleading.
Ad metrics firm Adalytics [2]claims that despite YouTube's September 4, 2019 [3]consent decree with the FTC to stop targeting kids with ads and CEO Susan Wojcicki's [4]commitment that day to "stop serving personalized ads" in " [5]made for kids " videos, the online video giant continues to serve targeted adverts to minors.
[6]
The Adalytics alleges that YouTube appears to set long-lasting cookies specifically for ad targeting and tracking in the browsers of users who are watching YouTube videos labeled "for kids." It also suggested the video-streaming titan serves "behaviorally and demographically targeted ads on YouTube videos that are clearly labeled as 'for kids.'"
[7]
[8]
And, it claims, YouTube's mobile app for iOS "sets and shares a unique ad tracking ID every time a viewer on a 'for kids' channel clicks on a YouTube ad."
In addition, the report claims, clicking on an ad adjacent to a "for kids" video in the app leads YouTube to open an advertiser's website "in a special in-app 'webview' browser, where Google both sets various ad targeting and tracker IDs on the viewer’s iPhone, and the YouTube app allows other data brokers and ad personalization vendors to gather and share unique identifiers on the viewer."
[9]
Labeled screenshot of YouTube ad network traffic, taken from the Adalytics report ... Click to enlarge
The report identifies 313 brands with ads for consumer products aimed at adults (eg, cars, razors, etc) that appeared on YouTube videos marked "for kids" when there was no signed-in user.
A 'misleading report' Google claims
In a statement to The Register , a Google spokesperson said, "There is no evidence that Google and YouTube violated their 2019 agreement with the FTC."
"This is the second time in recent weeks that Adalytics has published a deeply flawed and misleading report," Google's person claimed. "Personalized advertising has never been allowed on YouTube Kids, and in January 2020 we expanded this to anyone watching 'made for kids' content on YouTube, regardless of their age.
[10]
"The report makes completely false claims and draws uninformed conclusions based solely on the presence of cookies, which are widely used in these contexts for the purposes of fraud detection and frequency capping — both of which are permitted under COPPA. The portions of this report that were shared with us didn’t identify a single example of these policies being violated."
The report begins with a disclaimer that says it's not offering any legal opinion. Rather, it flags client-side identifiers – eg, those contained in cookies – that play a role in advertising. How these identifiers get used is central to the claims made by Adalytics. If YouTube is in fact setting unique identifiers that can be used to track kids online, and is doing so without parental consent, that's potentially [11]a violation of COPPA.
[12]Google accused of urging Android devs to mislabel apps to get forbidden kids ad data
[13]Google wants to target you – yes, YOU – with AI-generated ads
[14]Social media may harm kids. US Surgeon General says so
[15]Utah outlaws kids' social media addiction, sets digital curfew
Paul Lekas, head of global public policy at the Software and Information Industry Association, a trade group that counts Google as a member, told The Register that the presence of cookies – allowed under COPPA for certain uses – does not mean anything unlawful has occurred.
"Under COPPA, it is appropriate for there to be cookies on kid-oriented sites," he said. "There are some limitations and from what I've seen, it's not clear that [Adalytics has] shown that there's been any conduct or evidence that has actually gone beyond those limitations."
Google insists that cookies used with "made for kids" content are used for permissible purposes such as measurement, fraud prevention, and frequency capping – ensuring things like individual ads aren't shown too many times to someone.
[16]
Nonetheless, two US Senators – Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) – found the allegations sufficiently alarming to ask FTC Chair Lina Khan see whether Adalytics' findings can be substantiated.
"YouTube and Google cannot continue treating young people’s data as an unprotected commodity from which to profit with abandon," the lawmakers [17]said in a letter to the FTC Chair.
"Not only must the FTC Act, but Congress must also pass legislation to protect young people’s privacy online and finally ban targeted advertising to kids and teens." ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/google_childrens_privacy_lawsuit/
[2] https://adalytics.io/blog/are-youtube-ads-coppa-compliant
[3] https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/09/google-youtube-will-pay-record-170-million-alleged-violations-childrens-privacy-law
[4] https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/an-update-on-kids/
[5] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9528076
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/08/17/adalytics_report_image.jpg
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/23/google_childrens_privacy_lawsuit/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/25/google_ai_ads/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/23/us_surgeon_general_report_warns/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/utah_social_media_laws/
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZN7s6DrihatoY9uoqYXq1gAAAtM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-blackburn-demand-ftc-investigate-youtube-google-for-suspected-violations-of-childrens-privacy
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I see those ads too
Anonymous Coward
It is not a rocket science to say that online ad businesses are the main driver for multi-billion online scam and ultimately organized crime. Then the police has to spend taxpayers money to chase the scammers in offshores. But usually unsuccessfully.
I noticed that scam ads show more frequently right before Google quarterly earnings. Maybe ad teams are chasing their targets and bonuses. No wonder someone called Google a money printer. Scam has always been lucrative.
Australia has put a great initiative to force ad platforms to maintain public libraries of online ads. I wish one day to see the stats on scam ads and clicks.
Sleazy ads
The vast majority of ads I see on YT are scams or over-hyped products that can't work as advertised (damn physics). I haven't looked, but it must be super cheap to advertise on their platform. Are they truly marketing at kids? Any more than children's TV programming is loaded with ads for Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, expensive theme parks and over-priced toys?
Ultimately, parents are responsible for their children and need to monitor their children's activities. If online portals are exploiting them, maybe it's time to learn how to use those parental lockouts. When I was growing up we had to ask if we could watch TV and tell dad what we wanted to watch. It was usually "yes" and Saturday morning cartoons were a given, but there could also be a "no" if there were still chores or homework to do. Reading was encouraged and there were plenty of books in the house along with Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Mechano, etc. between my friend next door and I, we must have had 20kgs of legos.