The complaint was filed by Duncan McCann, a father of three who is leading the campaign with the support of the Five Rights Group, for which he works.
McCann said the video-streaming platform had broken the law, which authorities recently began implementing, by collecting data on the “location, viewing habits and preferences” of nearly five million children.
Countries are striving to balance rights with legislation that protect social media users, especially children, from harmful content without violating freedom of expression.
“This is a massive, unauthorized social experiment for our children and the consequences are unknown,” McCann said in a statement, adding that “YouTube should change the design of its platform and delete the data it was collecting.”
YouTube response
- A YouTube spokesperson said the platform had taken steps to preserve children’s privacy by putting in place more protective default settings.
- The spokesperson added that the platform has also made investments to protect children and families by launching an app specifically for children and introducing new data practices.
- “We remain committed to continuing our collaboration with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office on this priority work, and with other key stakeholders including children, parents and child protection experts.”
- For its part, the British Information Commissioner’s Office said it would look into the complaint carefully.
- “The law on children makes it clear that they are not the same as adults on the Internet, and that their data needs to be effectively protected,” Stephen Boehner, Deputy Commissioner for Information, said in a statement.
#YouTube #eye #storm.. #accusation #collecting #data #millions #children