The Court Of Appeal In The US Allows Lawsuits Against Google For Children's Privacy Langgar

The US District Judge, Beth Labsonwield, once rejected the lawsuit against Google. (photo: national Law Journal)

JAKARTA - The US appeals court last week revived a lawsuit accusing Alphabet Inc's Google and several other companies of violating the privacy of children under the age of 13 by tracking their YouTube activity without parental permission. They were later accused of sending these children targeted advertising.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle said Congress had no intention of preceding state law-based privacy claims by adopting the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

The law gives the Federal Trade Commission and state attorney generals, but not private plaintiffs, the authority to regulate online personal data collection of children under the age of 13.

The lawsuit alleges that Google's data collection violates similar state laws, and that YouTube content providers such as Hasbro Inc, Mattel Inc, Cartoon Network and DreamWorks Animation lure children to their channels, without knowing that they will be tracked.

In July 2021, US District Judge Beth Labsonwield, in San Francisco rejected the lawsuit, saying federal privacy laws preceded plaintiffs' claims under California, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Tennessee laws.

But in a 3-0 decision Wednesday, December 28, Circuit Judge Margaret McKown said the words in federal law made it "absurd" to assume Congress intends to prohibit plaintiffs from implementing state laws targeting the same alleged violations.

The case was returned to the airways to consider other reasons Google may have ignored and content providers.

Google's lawyers and content providers did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Children's lawyers did not immediately respond to a similar request.

In October 2019, Google agreed to pay $170 million to settle the demands of the FTC and New York Attorney General Letitia James that YouTube illegally collects children's personal data without parental consent.

Plaintiff in the San Francisco case said Google had not started complying with COPPA until January 2020. Their lawsuit demands compensation for YouTube users aged 16 years and under from July 2013 to April 2020.