Congressmen question Google over kids’ privacy on YouTube

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Two members of Congress are calling on Google to address concerns that YouTube might violate children’s privacy.

Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Democrat, and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, a Nebraska Republican, sent a letter this week to Google CEO Sundar Pichai asking for more details about how the service collects data.

Their letter comes months after privacy advocates filed a complaint about YouTube with the Federal Trade Commission. The complaint alleges that YouTube violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, which bans kid-oriented websites from collecting personal information from children under 13 without their parents’ express consent. The FTC has not said if an investigation has been opened.

Google says that YouTube isn’t for children under 13, which is why it created a separate app for them, YouTube Kids.