YouTube has been accused of collecting the viewing data of under-13 children, in violation of a UK data privacy code developed to protect children.
Campaigner Duncan McCann has lodged an official complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), saying the site is collecting data about the videos children watch, where they are watching, and what device they are watching it on.
While YouTube said it had invested in protecting families. This included treating all children’s content as though children were viewing it, even on an adult’s account.
We remain committed to continuing our engagement with the ICO on this priority work, and with other key stakeholders including children, parents and child-protection experts.”
YouTube spokesperson said
The platform is owned by the US tech giant Alphabet, which is also the parent company of Google. The company has always said its service was not intended for use by children below the age of 13, and it offers a individual children’s app called YouTube Kids as well as a “supervised experience” which requires parental permission.
Mr. McCann says plenty of children watch YouTube content on family devices, where this data can be assembled by default because it is not registered as a children’s account. His complaint is believed to be the first test of the ICO children’s code, which was introduced in 2020 when tech firms were given one year to comply with it.
