Before the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20580

Before the

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20580

In the Matter of

Request to Investigate Google’s YouTube

Online Service and Advertising Practices for

Violating the Children’s Online Privacy

Protection Act

)

CENTER FOR DIGITAL DEMOCRACY

CAMPAIGN FOR A COMMERCIAL-FREE CHILDHOOD

BERKELEY MEDIA STUDIES GROUP

CENTER FOR MEDIA JUSTICE

COMMON SENSE

CONSUMER ACTION

CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA

CONSUMER FEDERATION OF CALIFORNIA

CONSUMERS UNION

CONSUMER WATCHDOG

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY

DEFENDING THE EARLY YEARS

ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER (EPIC)

NEW DREAM

OBLIGATION, INC.

PARENT COALITION FOR STUDENT PRIVACY

PARENTS ACROSS AMERICA

PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL

PRIVACY RIGHTS CLEARINGHOUSE

PUBLIC CITIZEN

THE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT

TRUCE (TEACHERS RESISTING UNHEALTHY CHILDHOOD ENTERTAINMENT)

USPIRG

Angela J. Campbell

Chris Laughlin

Institute for Public Representation

Georgetown University Law Center

600 New Jersey Avenue NW, Suite 312

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 662-9535

Counsel for Center for Digital Democracy and

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Summary

The Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood,

Berkeley Media Studies Group, Center for Media Justice, Common Sense, Consumer Action,

Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Federation of California, Consumers Union (the

advocacy division of Consumer Reports), Corporate Accountability, Consumer Watchdog,

Defending the Early Years, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), New Dream,

Obligation, Inc., Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, Parents Across America, Parents

Television Council, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Public Citizen, The Story of Stuff Project,

TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Childhood Entertainment), and USPIRG ask the FTC to

take enforcement action against Google for violating children’s privacy laws in operating the

YouTube online video and advertising network services. Google has made substantial profits

from the collection and use of personal data from children on YouTube. Its illegal collection has

been going on for many years and involves tens of millions of U.S. children. The parties request

that the FTC enjoin Google from committing further violations of the Children’s Online Privacy

Protection Act (“COPPA”), impose effective means for monitoring compliance, and assess civil

penalties that demonstrate that the FTC will not permit violations of COPPA.

COPPA makes it unlawful for any operator of a website or online service or a portion

thereof that is directed to children, or that has actual knowledge that it collects information from

children, from collecting, using or disclosing personal information from a child unless the

operator gives parents notice of its data collection practices and obtains verifiable parental

consent before collecting the data.

YouTube, owned by Google, is the most popular online platform among children. A 2017

study found that 80% of U.S. children ages 6-12 use YouTube daily. Child-directed channels

such as ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs and Ryan ToysReview are among the most

popular channels on YouTube. Many of the top children’s channels are part of the Google

Preferred “Parenting & Family” lineup. Major advertisers pay Google a premium to guarantee

that their ads will be placed on these popular YouTube channels.

YouTube also has actual knowledge that many children are on YouTube, as evidenced by

disclosures from content providers, public statements by YouTube executives, and the creation

of the YouTube Kids app, which provides additional access to many of the children’s channels

on YouTube. YouTube even encourages content creators to create children’s programs for

YouTube. Through the YouTube Partner Program, YouTube and creators split revenues from

advertisements served on the creators’ videos.

YouTube’s privacy policy discloses that it collects many types of personal information,

including geolocation, unique device identifiers, mobile telephone numbers, and persistent

identifiers used to recognize a user over time and across different websites or online services.

YouTube collects this information from children under the age of 13, and uses it to target

advertisements, without giving notice or obtaining advanced, verifiable parental consent as

required by COPPA.

Before the

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20580

In the Matter of

Request to Investigate Google’s YouTube

Online Service and Advertising Practices for

Violating the Children’s Online Privacy

Protection Act

)

I. Background ....................................................................................................................... 2

A. YouTube is the most popular online platform for children .................................... 3

B. Google’s advertising network services collect and use personal information from

all YouTube users, including children, to target advertising ................................. 7

II. Google fails to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act .............. 10

A. Portions of YouTube are directed to children ........................................................ 11

B. Google has actual knowledge that it is collecting and using personal information

from children ............................................................................................................. 15

1. Many content providers directly communicate to YouTube that their content

is directed to children ......................................................................................... 15

2. Many high-level YouTube representatives have publicly recognized the child-

directed content on YouTube ............................................................................. 16

3. YouTube cannot escape COPPA compliance by its “age gate” ...................... 20

C. Google collects personal information from all YouTube users, including children

..................................................................................................................................... 21

D. YouTube does not provide parental notice nor obtain parental consent prior to

its collection of children’s personal information, as COPPA requires ................ 24

1. YouTube does not have a children’s privacy policy ........................................ 24

2. YouTube makes no effort to provide direct parental notice ........................... 25

3. YouTube fails to obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting

personal information from children .................................................................. 25

III. Conclusion and Request for Relief ................................................................................ 25

The Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, by their

counsel, the Institute for Public Representation, along with Berkeley Media Studies Group,

Center for Media Justice, Common Sense, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America,

Consumer Federation of California, Consumers Union (the advocacy division of Consumer

Reports), Corporate Accountability, Consumer Watchdog, Defending the Early Years, Electronic

Privacy Information Center (EPIC), New Dream, Obligation, Inc., Parent Coalition for Student

Privacy, Parents Across America, Parents Television Council, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse,

Public Citizen, The Story of Stuff Project, TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Childhood

Entertainment), and USPIRG, respectfully request that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”)

investigate and assess sanctions, including injunctive relief and civil penalties, against Google

for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) and the FTC’s COPPA

Rule (collectively referred to as “COPPA”) through its YouTube online service and advertising

network services.

YouTube is the most popular online platform among children. A recent study found that

80% of U.S. children ages 6-12 use YouTube daily.

Google has actual knowledge that children

under age 13 are using YouTube. Google nonetheless collects and uses personal information

from all YouTube users, including children under the age of 13, without giving notice or

obtaining advanced, verifiable parental consent as required by COPPA.

See Smarty Pants, 2017 Brand Love Study: 2017 Kid & Family Trends, at 7 (2017),

https://daks2k3a4ib2z.cloudfront.net/5435eb4d1e426bb420ac990f/5a316f4f4a2f7d000196532b_

2017%20Kid%20and%20Family%20Trends%20Report%20EXCERPT.PDF. The study found

that 96% of children ages 6-12 are aware of YouTube and that 83% of those children use

YouTube daily, which calculates to 80% daily use by children in that age range.

I. Background

YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, whose parent company is Alphabet, Inc., a

multinational conglomerate with diverse holdings in multiple market categories.

Google is a

multinational technology company that specializes in online advertising technologies and data

services.

YouTube is a video-sharing and digital advertising website that encourages its users to

upload, view, and share videos.

With over 1.5 billion unique monthly visitors worldwide,

YouTube is one of the most visited websites in the world.

Google explains that “YouTube is

always on, everywhere. More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices.”

It is

expected that YouTube will soon surpass television as the most watched video format in the

United States.

Alphabet, Inc., Form 10-K, https://abc.xyz/investor/pdf/2016_google_annual_report.pdf.

Jeri Collins, What Is YouTube? How Do I Use It?, Lifewire (updated Jun. 27, 2017),

https://www.lifewire.com/youtube-101-3481847.

Lucas Matney, YouTube has 1.5 billion logged-in monthly users watching a ton of mobile

video, TechCrunch (Jun. 22, 2017), https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/22/youtube-has-1-5-billion-

logged-in-monthly-users-watching-a-ton-of-mobile-video/.

Think With Google, Understanding the YouTube Ecosystem (March 2017),

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/features/youtube-playbook/topic/ecosystem/. See also,

YouTube Advertising, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/ (citing that more people

between ages 18 and 49 watch YouTube during prime time in the U.S. than the top-10 prime-

time shows combined).

Feliz Solomon, YouTube Could Be About to Overtake TV as America’s Most Watched

Platform, Fortune (Feb. 28, 2017), http://fortune.com/2017/02/28/youtube-1-billion-hours-

television/. See also Lesson: YouTube Metrics That Matter, YouTube Creators,

https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/impact-metrics#strategies-zippy-link-2

(YouTube’s watch time increases 60% year-over-year) (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

A. YouTube is the most popular online platform for children

YouTube is both the most-loved and most-recognized brand among kids ages 6-12 in the

United States.

According to Smarty Pants 2017 Brand Love Study:

A whopping 96% of kids ages 6-12 are aware of YouTube, and 94%

say they either love (71%) or like (24%) it! With awareness and love

comes usage. In 2017, 90% of kids who know the brand say they

use it, 83% of whom do so daily. . . . The frequency of YouTube

engagement continues to rise. This year, 65% of kid users use the

app/site several times a day—up 20 percentage points since 2015.”

YouTube is such a popular venue for watching children’s programming that it has been

called the “new children’s TV.”

Children are abandoning traditional television in favor of

YouTube where they can watch everything from low-budget toy “unboxing” videos to highly-

popular children’s television franchises that originated on traditional television, such as Cartoon

Network. Between 2008 and 2017, viewership of the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon among 6-

to-11-year-olds fell by 53% and 54%, respectively.

Instead of waiting for programs to start on

TV, children now choose to watch their favorite content on tablets and smartphones whenever

and wherever they want.

A Smarty Pants survey found that YouTube was the most recognizable brand among children

6-12, in both 2016 and 2017. YouTube Kids ranked far below the main YouTube site, at 48

place. 2017 Brand Love Study at 14.

Id. at 7.

Stuart Dredge, Why YouTube is the new children’s TV... and why it matters, The Guardian

(Nov. 19, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/19/youtube-is-the-new-

childrens-tv-heres-why-that-matters.

Alexandra Stratton, Toymakers Are Targeting Your Children Via YouTube’s Kid Influencers,

Bloomberg (Oct. 18, 2017), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-18/toymakers-

curry-favor-with-precocious-youtube-influencers. The Disney Channel saw a 28% decline in

live-plus-seven-day-primetime viewers between 2016 and 2017. Ashley Rodriguez, The real

fight in the TV streaming wars is not over you. It’s over your kids., Quartz (Jul. 10, 2017)

https://qz.com/1021922/the-real-fight-in-the-streaming-tv-wars-is-not-over-you-its-over-your-

kids/

Many children watch YouTube on mobile devices, decreasing the likelihood that they are

co-viewing with their parents. Over half of YouTube’s total viewing time now occurs on mobile

devices, including smartphones and tablets.

As of 2017, 98% of households have a mobile

device

and 69% of children use mobile devices if they are available in the household.

substantial number of children have their own mobile device, including 43% ages 2-4 and 59%

ages 5-8 with their own tablet

and another 24% ages 5-11 with their own smartphones.

The

expanding use of mobile devices for streaming television programs and digital videos is

appealing for children because they are not limited to watching the same content as their siblings

or parents: “[E]ach [can] watch their own thing and not have a shared viewing experience.”

Parents also encourage children to enjoy solo-viewing experiences on mobile devices as a means

of quiet self-entertainment. In fact, over half of parents in a recent survey indicated that they let

their children use iPads “to get them out of their hair.”

Think With Google, Understanding the YouTube Ecosystem (March 2017),

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/features/youtube-playbook/topic/ecosystem/.

Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight, Common Sense, 23 (2017),

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/research/csm_zerotoeight_fullre

port_release_2.pdf.

Kids’ Audience Behavior Across Platforms, Nielson (2015),

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/kids-audience-behavior-across-

platforms.html.

Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight at 23.

Mark Dolliver, The Digital Lives of US Kids, eMarketer, 6 (Dec. 2017),

https://www.emarketer.com/Report/Digital-Lives-of-US-Kids-Mapping-Their-Distinctive-Highs-

Lows/2002190.

Id. at 13.

Jeana Lee Tahnk, 33% of Parents Would Buy Their Kids an iPad, Parenting,

https://www.parenting.com/blogs/children-and-technology-blog/jeana-lee-tahnk/33-parents-

would-buy-their-kids-ipad (last visited Apr. 4, 2018).

Searching YouTube using the term “children’s videos” returns over 243 million results.

In the U.S., the second most popular YouTube channel is Ryan ToysReview, with more

than 20 billion views and 12 million subscribers.

The channel describes itself as “Ryan loves

Toys. Toys Review for kids by a kid! Join Ryan to see him play with toys and review toys for

kids! He loves Cars, Trains, Thomas and Friends, Lego, Superheroes, Disney toys, open [sic]

surprise eggs, play doh, Pixar Disney cars… and so much more!”

Google profits from YouTube’s kid-targeted programming. For example, Ryan

ToysReview brought in $11 million in ad revenue in a single year.

Because YouTube takes

Ryan ToysReview YouTube Channel statistics, Socialbakers,

https://www.socialbakers.com/statistics/youtube/channels/detail/UChGJGhZ9SOOHvBB0Y4DO

O_w-ryan-toysreview (last visited Mar. 30, 2018).

Ryan ToysReview, About, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChGJGhZ9SOOHvBB0Y4DOO_w/about (last visited Mar.

4, 2018).

Samantha Schmidt, This Six-Year Old Makes $11 Million a Year Reviewing Toys on YouTube,

Washington Post (Dec. 11, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-

mix/wp/2017/12/11/6-year-old-made-11-million-in-one-year-reviewing-toys-on-you-tube.

45% of all YouTube ad revenues,

it earned nearly $5 million for just one of its many kid-

targeted channels. It is not surprising, therefore, that YouTube actually encourages the creation

of children’s content for YouTube. The YouTube Academy, which Google created to help

YouTube creators be more successful, offers advice on making family-friendly videos for

YouTube. The screen shot below shows examples of child-directed programs – Mother Goose

Club Playhouse and Dreamworks TV.

Note that this guidance is for creators who want to make

content for children on the main YouTube site; the circled language refers creators who want to

make content eligible for YouTube Kids to a separate Field Guide.

Michael Learmonth, Exclusive Interview: Susan Wojcicki’s Plan to Make YouTube ‘Stars’

Real-life famous, AdAge (Apr. 14, 2014), http://adage.com/article/digital/exclusive-interview-

susan-wojcicki-s-plan-youtube/292621/.

The YouTube Academy also includes video interviews with the creators of children’s channel

TuTiTu and the manager of the Talking Tom YouTube channels. Lesson: Making Family-

Friendly Videos on YouTube, YouTube Creators,

https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/family-content?hl=en-GB#strategies-zippy-

link-2 (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

B. Google’s advertising network services collect and use personal information from

all YouTube users, including children, to target advertising

Children have become a lucrative audience for advertising via YouTube. According to a

2017 report, “the kids’ online advertising market is set to grow to $1.2 billion by 2019. YouTube

accounts for over 30% of kids' online time, creating a major opportunity for advertisers in the

sector.”

Precise.TV Becomes Worlds' First Certified Provider of Kid Safe Advertising Services on

YouTube, PR Newswire (Feb. 14, 2018), https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/precisetv-

becomes-worlds-first-certified-provider-of-kid-safe-advertising-services-on-youtube-

674043983.html.

YouTube is integrated with Google’s complex of advertising technologies and services,

including AdWords, DoubleClick, and Google Preferred.

AdWords is the Web’s most popular

advertising service. It serves more than four million advertisers, and enables ads to target

children on YouTube.

Google boasts that AdWords offers “a variety of targeting methods,”

including via YouTube, so that advertisers “can reach [their] ideal audience based on who they

are, what they’re interested in, or what content they’re viewing.”

As shown in Exhibit A,

advertisers can target children by using keywords such as “kid,” “child,” “toddler,” “baby” or

“toy.” AdWords will even suggest keywords such as “barbie doll dream house.” Exhibit B shows

screenshots of children’s videos on YouTube with ads for Barbie shown along the side or bottom

of the screen.

DoubleClick is “an advertising serving and tracking company that … uses web cookies to

track browsing behavior online by their IP address to deliver targeted ads.”

Since purchasing

DoubleClick in 2007, Google has significantly expanded its capabilities. Today, Google touts

DoubleClick as “connect[ing] the right people, in the right moment, to make digital advertising

Enhanced YouTube buying and reporting in DoubleClick, DoubleClick (March 2017),

https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/articles/enhanced-youtube-buying-and-reporting-

doubleclick/; Broadcast your story with YouTube Ads, Google AdWords,

https://adwords.google.com/home/how-it-works/video-ads/#?modal_active=none (last visited

Mar. 19, 2018).

Broadcast your story with YouTube Ads. See also Lara O'Reilly, These charts show how far

Google and Facebook are ahead of Twitter, Business Insider (Feb. 25, 2015),

http://www.businessinsider.com/macquarie-research-facebook-google-and-twitter-number-of-

advertisers-2015-2.

Add targeting to your video campaigns, AdWords Help,

https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7131506?hl=en&ref_topic=3119118 (last visited

Mar. 19, 2018).

Olivia Solon, Google’s Ad-Tracking is as Creepy as Facebook’s, The Guardian (Oct. 21,

2016), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/21/how-to-disable-google-ad-

tracking-gmail-youtube-browser-history.

work better.”

It offers a whole suite of “Digital Marketing Solutions,” including Campaign

Manager, Bid Manager, Search, Creative Solutions, Ad Exchange, Analytics 360 Suite and

Audience Center 360.

The DoubleClick Ad Exchange, for example, “connects ad networks,

agencies and third-party demand-side platforms with a vast global inventory in real time.”

YouTube targeted ads can be delivered via the sophisticated DoubleClick Ad Exchange, using

data driven programmatic marketing applications.

Other DoubleClick ad technologies used to target YouTube users include the Campaign

Manager, which helps advertisers “identify, locate and understand your customers, wherever

they are.”

The Google Analytics 360 Suite allows advertisers to “deliver highly-targeted,

personalized messages to the users who are most likely to convert.”

In short, Google offers

advertisers the opportunity to precisely target individuals across different platforms with

personalized messages.

Google launched Google Preferred in October 2014. Google Preferred is a “premium

service that allows advertisers to pair up their ads with top-performing videos within a certain

Realise What’s Possible With Digital, DoubleClick,

https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/en-gb/ (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

Digital Marketing Solutions, DoubleClick,

https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/solutions/digital-marketing/ (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

DoubleClick Campaign Manager, DoubleClick,

https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/solutions/digital-marketing/campaign-manager/ (last

visited Mar. 19, 2018).

Enhanced YouTube buying and reporting in DoubleClick; see also DoubleClick Ad Exchange,

DoubleClick, https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/solutions/digital-marketing/ad-exchange/

(last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

DoubleClick Ad Exchange.

Digital Marketers, Google Analytics 360 Suite, https://www.google.com/analytics/digital-

marketing (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

Integrations, Google Analytics 360 Suite, https://www.google.com/analytics/360-

suite/integrations/ (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

top-level theme, such as music, news or automotive.”

Equated to buying advertising on prime-

time television, Google Preferred provides major advertisers guaranteed access to the top 5% of

content on YouTube.

Google Preferred offers thirteen program “lineups,”

including Beauty &

Fashion, Sports, Food & Recipes, and what it used to call, Family and Children’s Interests. See

Exhibit C. Even though that lineup is now called the “Parenting & Family” lineup, it is

comprised almost exclusively of channels intended for young children.

By paying to advertise within a certain lineup, a brand can have its ads shown on the

most popular videos in that lineup, ensuring that advertisements will reach a maximum number

of viewers. Google boasts that Google Preferred lineups, which are refreshed quarterly, “give

your brand access to popular content that commands the most passionate audience.”

II. Google fails to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

COPPA makes it “unlawful for any operator of a Web site or online service directed to

children, or any operator that has actual knowledge that it is collecting or maintaining personal

information from a child, to collect personal information from a child” unless it complies with

YouTube Announce Changes to Google Preferred Ad Packages, Target Internet,

https://www.targetinternet.com/youtube-for-brands-what-is-google-preferred/ (last visited Mar.

18, 2018). See also, Ishbel MacLeod, YouTube launches Google Preferred to allow advertisers

to be paired with the most popular and engaging channels, The Drum (Oct. 15, 2014),

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/10/15/youtube-launches-google-preferred-allow-

advertisers-be-paired-most-popular-and (describing Google Preferred as “a way to allow

advertisers to reserve advertising inventory from among the top five per cent of YouTube’s most

popular and engaging channels”).

Google Preferred, Think With Google (Aug. 2016),

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/google-preferred/.

13 lineups featuring YouTube's popular channels, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/yt/lineups/united-states.html (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

Joshua Cohen, Meet the Top 1% of YouTube’s “Google Preferred” Channels For Advertisers,

Tubefilter (Apr. 18, 2014), https://www.tubefilter.com/2014/04/18/youtube-google-preferred-

channels-top-1-percent-advertisers/.

13 lineups featuring YouTube’s popular channels.

certain requirements.

Specifically, the operator must give parents notice of its data collection

practices, and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting the data.

Google is subject to COPPA because, as discussed below, a significant portion of

YouTube’s channels are directed to children. Moreover, even if portions of YouTube were not

directed to children, Google has actual knowledge that it is collecting data from children using

YouTube.

YouTube’s Terms of Service state that the service is not intended for children:

You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an

emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent,

and are fully able and competent to enter into the terms, conditions,

obligations, affirmations, representations, and warranties set forth in

these Terms of Service, and to abide by and comply with these

of 13, as the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are

under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are

lots of other great web sites for you. Talk to your parents about what

sites are appropriate for you.

This language, however, does not exempt YouTube from complying with COPPA. As the FTC

explained in revising the COPPA Rule, “a web site or online service that has the attributes, look,

and feel of a property targeted to children under 13 will be deemed to be a site or service directed

to children, even if the operator were to claim that was not its intent.”

A. Portions of YouTube are directed to children

COPPA defines a website or online service directed to children to mean “a commercial

Web site or online service, or portion thereof, that is targeted to children.”

The FTC uses a

16 C.F.R. §312.3.

Id. at §312.3(b).

Ability to Accept Terms of Service, Exhibit D.

16 C.F.R. §312.2.

Id. (emphasis added).

multifactor analysis to determine whether a given portion of a website or online service is child-

directed. Those factors include:

subject matter, visual content, use of animated characters or child-

oriented activities and incentives, music or other audio content, age

of models, presence of child celebrities or celebrities who appeal to

children, language or other characteristics of the Web site or online

service, as well as whether advertising promoting or appearing on

the Web site or online service is directed to children. The

Commission will also consider competent and reliable empirical

evidence regarding audience composition, and evidence regarding

the intended audience.

The Parenting & Family lineup consists almost entirely of videos directed to children.

The screen shot below shows some of the top channels in the Parenting & Family lineup as of

March 2018. The circled channels market themselves as being directed to children.

The first channel listed, ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs, has over 15 million

subscribers. The channel’s “About” page states that

Id.

ChuChuTV is designed to engage children through a series of upbeat

nursery rhymes and educational songs with colorful animations. Our

ChuChuTV characters will teach kids their favorite nursery rhymes,

colors, shapes, numbers etc and more importantly good human

values which we feel is very important for the next generation

champions.

Additional factors demonstrate that ChuChuTV is child-directed. The subject matter of

the videos in the channel – animated nursery rhymes – appeals to children. As shown in Exhibit

E, the visual content of ChuChuTV is vibrant and colorful. The audio content consists of

children’s songs such as “The Wheels On The Bus” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” The

lyrics are simple, repetitive, and memorable (e.g., “Here I am. Here I am. How do you do?”).

The channel’s mascot, ChuChu, is a young girl based on the Creative Director’s two-year-old

daughter.

The other circled channels are similarly described in ways that make clear they are

intended for children, as shown in Exhibit F.

Moreover, a quick visual survey of all channels in the Parenting & Family lineup (Exhibit

G) suggests that most are child-directed. This conclusion is supported by an analysis of the tags

on more than 290,000 videos available in the Parenting & Family lineup as of October 2017.

Tags are “descriptive keywords that will help people find your videos.” Google urges content

creators to utilize tags when uploading videos to YouTube.

The analysis found that at least

ChuChuTV, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/TheChuChuTV/about (last

visited Mar. 19, 2018). The Creative Director of ChuChu TV has described the channel’s content

as being intended for children ages z to five. Sam Gutelle, YouTube Millionaires: ‘Cute Little

Fans’ Turn To ChuChu TV, Tubefilter (Apr. 23, 2015),

http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/04/23/chu-chu-tv-youtube-millionaires/.

ChuChuTV, The Finger Family Song | ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Songs For Children,

YouTube (Mar. 20, 2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xqqj9o7TgA.

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, How ChuChu TV is reinventing kids' entertainment, Business

Standard (Aug. 14, 2017), http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/how-chuchu-tv-

is-reinventing-kids-entertainment-117081401937_1.html.

Optimize your content, Think with Google (Oct. 2015),

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/youtube/optimize-your-content/.

69% of the videos in the Parenting & Family lineup were tagged with variants of the words

“toy,” “child,” “kid,” “toddler,” or “baby.” The percentage was even higher for the most popular

channels in the lineup.

Additionally, since Google now employs humans to screen every video

in Google Preferred lineups to protect brand safety, those employees have actual knowledge that

the content is child-directed.

YouTube has many child-directed channels aside from those in the Parenting & Family

lineup. For example, LittleBabyBum is a nursery rhyme channel with 14 million subscribers and

over 16 billion views. The creators describe LittleBabyBum as “the largest educational pre-

school channel in the world.”

The “About” page on YouTube describes LittleBabyBum as the

“best nursery rhyme videos for children on YouTube - stunning and colourful 3D animation in

beautiful HD!”

FunToys Collector Disney Toys Review is another popular YouTube channel

for children, with 10 million subscribers and close to 14 billion views. Its “About” page indicates

See Exhibit H.

YouTube began receiving complaints from parents and advertisers in November 2017 that

some videos on YouTube’s main platform as well as on the YouTube Kids (YTK) app were

showing cartoons that were inappropriate for children. Well-known children’s cartoon characters

were seen in violent or sexual situations, such as a Claymation Spider-Man urinating on Elsa of

“Frozen” and Nick Jr. characters in a strip club. Saphna Maheshwari, On YouTube Kids,

Startling Videos Slip Past Filters, The New York Times (Nov. 4, 2017),

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/business/media/youtube-kids-paw-patrol.html. Google

responded in January 2018 by announcing that content moderators would screen every video in

Google Preferred. YouTube steps up on brand safety, WARC News (Jan. 18, 2018),

https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/youtube_steps_up_on_brand_safety/39901. See

also Peter Kafta, YouTube is trying to clean itself up by making it much harder for small video

makers to make money, Recode (Jan. 16. 2018),

https://www.recode.net/2018/1/16/16898660/youtube-content-advertising-revenue-program-

new-rules-google-preferred.

About Us, El Bebe Productions, http://elbebeproductions.com/ (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

LittleBabyBum, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBabyBum/about (last

visited Mar. 15, 2018).

that it is intended “for toddlers, babies, infants, and pre-school children.”

Its brightly-colored

visual content features Disney toys, Play-Doh, and “surprise eggs.” These channels represent

only a small sample of the large number of child-directed channels on YouTube. Thus, there is

no question that a significant portion of YouTube is directed to children.

B. Google has actual knowledge that it is collecting and using personal information

from children

Not only are large portions of YouTube directed to children, but Google has actual

knowledge that YouTube is collecting personal information from children. For COPPA

purposes, an otherwise general audience site will be deemed directed to children when its

operator “has actual knowledge it is collecting personal information directly from users of a

child-directed site, and continues to collect that information.”

The actual knowledge standard

will usually be met when “(1) A child-directed content provider . . . directly communicates the

child-directed nature of its content to the other online service; or (2) a representative of the

online service recognizes the child-directed nature of the content.”

Moreover, an accumulation

of other facts analyzed carefully on a case-by-case basis may also establish actual knowledge.

1. Many content providers directly communicate to YouTube that their content

is directed to children

As described above, many YouTube content creators directly communicate the child-

directed nature of their content in the “About” section of their channels. Thus, YouTube has

actual knowledge under the first test.

FunToys Collector Disney Toys Review, About, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyCollectorBR/about (last visited Mar. 12, 2018).

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, Statement of Basis and Purpose, 78 Fed. Reg.

3972, 3978 (2013) (“SBP”).

Id.

2. Many high-level YouTube representatives have publicly recognized the child-

directed content on YouTube

YouTube also has actual knowledge under the second test because YouTube

representatives have recognized and encouraged the existence of child-directed content on

YouTube. In launching the YouTube Kids (YTK) app in 2015, YouTube acknowledged that

many children use YouTube. Product Manager Shimrit Ben-Yair explained that YouTube

developed the app because “Parents were constantly asking us, can you make YouTube a better

place for our kids.”

Malik Ducard, YouTube’s Global Head of Family and Learning, explained

that YouTube rolled out YTK “as a mobile experience because of this reality – that we’re all

familiar with – 75% of kids between birth and the age of 8 have access to a mobile device and

more than half of kids prefer to watch content videos on a mobile device or a tablet.”

The YTK app is designed so that all videos available on the app are also on the main

YouTube platform, but not all videos on YouTube are available on the YTK app. The videos

shown on the YTK app are selected from the videos on YouTube using an algorithm,

supplemented by human review. When Google launched YTK, it could have moved the

children’s content from YouTube’s main platform to the YTK app. Instead, Google chose to

Introducing the newest member of our family, the YouTube Kids app—available on the

Google Play and the App Store, YouTube Official Blog (Feb. 23, 2015), http://youtube-

global.blogspot.com/2015/02/youtube-kids.html. See also Marco della Cava, YouTube unveils

new app for kids, USA Today (Feb. 19, 2015),

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/02/19/youtube-for-kids-new-android-app-out-feb-

23/23707819/; Why YouTube is the new children’s TV... and why it matters (noting that in

introducing YTK, “YouTube is reacting to the fact that tens of millions of children . . . are

watching.”)

Keynote: Malik Ducard, YouTube-MIP Junior 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73GfqAKN0E (starting at approximately 4:00) (last visited

Mar. 18, 2018) (“Ducard Keynote”).

make children’s content available on both YouTube and YTK, showing that Google knew a large

portion of YouTube would remain child-directed.

Despite the availability of the YTK app, more children use YouTube than use the YTK

app. In a recent survey by Common Sense, 71% of parents reported that their children watched

YouTube either on its main website (44%) or on the YouTube app (37%).

By contrast, only

24% of parents indicated that their children used the YTK app.

These results are not surprising

because the YTK app was designed for very young children. When YTK launched in February

2015, the official YouTube blog described the app as “the first Google product built from the

ground up with little ones in mind.”

YouTube represented that the YTK app blocked access to

videos considered inappropriate for children.

As shown in the screen shot below, it also took

Media Use by Kids Age Zero to Eight at 23.

Alexandra Whyte, Only 10% of US parents say YouTube must deal with inappropriate videos,

Kidscreen (Mar. 1, 2018), http://kidscreen.com/2018/03/01/only-10-of-us-parents-say-youtube-

must-deal-with-inappropriate-videos/. The YTK app has 11 million weekly active users

compared to YouTube’s more than 1 billion users. Brett Molina, YouTube Kids get new look, ads

profiles, USA Today (Nov. 2, 2017),

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/11/02/youtube-kids-gets-new-look-adds-

profiles/824646001/.

Introducing the newest member of our family, the YouTube Kids app—available on the Google

Play and the App Store, YouTube Official Blog (Feb. 23, 2015), http://youtube-

global.blogspot.com/2015/02/youtube-kids.html.

In November 2017, YouTube announced changes to the app. Explaining that “we know that

kids who love the YouTube Kids app are getting older and want a platform that’ll grow with

them,” YouTube updated the YTK app to allow parents to create different profiles for different

children that are tailored to the child’s age. Introducing kid profiles, new parental controls, and a

new exciting look for kids, which will begin rolling out today!, YouTube Official Blog (Nov. 2,

2017), https://youtube.googleblog.com/2017/11/introducing-kid-profiles-new-parental.html.

“out the complicated stuff and made an app even little ones can navigate – that means big

buttons, easy scrolling, and instant full-screen.”

At the 2015 MIPJunior convention,

Malik Ducard talked about the many child-targeted

videos available on YouTube and the YTK app, including Thomas the Tank Engine, Sesame

Street, My Little Pony, and Hoopla Kids.

He observed that about 65% of the children’s videos

on YTK originated from other countries, citing examples such as Tayo from Korea, with “1

million plus . . . kids who’ve discovered Tayo on YouTube,” Masha and the Bear from Russia,

with over 5 billion views on YouTube, and “LittleBabyBum from the UK . . . [which] captivated

YouTube Kids—First Look (App Android), YouTube (Feb. 24, 2015),

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBgSnVht7-k. Ben-Yair also observed that children from

millions of families, including her own, enjoy using YouTube:

I spend a lot of time on YouTube with my 3-year-old son, who loves

watching videos of . . . Super Simple Songs. . . .We’re not the only

ones: Families worldwide are watching millions of videos on

YouTube. And lately, those of us at YouTube have been working on

a new way for our kids—and yours—to discover and explore videos

on every topic in, well, the universe. . . . The app makes it safer and

easier for children to find videos on topics they want to explore.

MIPJunior describes itself on its website as “The Worlds’ Showcase for kids Programming. Its

annual conventions gather together “the world’s most influential buyers and commissioners,

sellers and producers.” MIPJunior, http://www.mipjunior.com (last visited Mar. 19, 2018),

http://www.mipjunior.com (last visited Mar. 18, 2018).

Ducard Keynote (at approximately 8:20).

a large audience on YouTube.”

He even disclosed that his own children loved

Stampylonghead’s Wonder Quest,

a show based on the popular children’s game, Minecraft,

which was funded in part by YouTube.

In another interview, Ducard, touted YouTube’s “booming growth in the family, and in

the educational market,” explaining that the family category had grown 200% in one year while

YouTube is only growing about 50% per year in terms of time watched.

He attributed this

growth to the fact that “kids these days . . . [are] born as creators and when they watch something

they not only want to watch it, but they want to create their own . . . to press that like button or

that subscribe button or . . . put in a comment or create their own version.”

Aman Dayal, the Head of Content Partnerships at YouTube Family & Learning for India

and Southeast Asia, has also recognized the popularity of kids programming on YouTube:

“Kids is a highly competitive category and there are lots of popular

channels in this space, such as Little Baby Bum, KidsTV,

HooplaKidz, and others,” said YouTube’s Dayal. “The lifetime

video views for each of these channels is in the billions—making it

a highly engaged content genre.”

Likewise, Don Anderson, Head of Kids and Learning Partnerships at YouTube for the Asia-

Pacific market (APAC), has observed that “Family and learning is one of the fastest growing

Id. at 7:15-8:55. Ducard spoke about how his own children discovered Tayo and other global

children’s programs on their own through the YouTube Kids app’s kid-friendly interface.

Id. at 13:05.

Stuart Dredge, Liveblog: YouTube’s Malik Ducard talks kids and learning, MIPTrends (Oct 4,

2015), https://mipblog.com/2015/10/youtube-kids-malik-ducard-mipjunior/.

Interview with Malik Ducard, YouTube—Children’s Content Consumption, YouTube (Sept.

21, 2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDk1vBoMg24.

Id. Mipmarkets is the “official YouTube Channel of MIP Markets, the world's entertainment

content tradeshows (MIPTV, MIPCOM, MIPJunior, MIPFormats & MIPDoc). MIPMarkets:

About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/mipmarkets/about (last visited Mar. 12, 2018).

Manu Balachandran, An Indian dad turned his daughter’s favourite nursery rhymes into a

million-dollar business on YouTube, Quartz India (Aug. 3, 2017),

https://qz.com/1033031/chuchutv-an-indian-dad-turned-his-daughters-favourite-nursery-rhymes-

into-a-million-dollar-business-on-youtube/.

verticals within YouTube,” and that “kidfluencer channels” were extremely successful because

“children like to watch their own.”

Statements such as these by Google executives show that

they are not only aware of child-directed channels on YouTube, but actively seek to attract

children to YouTube and have actual knowledge of children using YouTube.

3. YouTube cannot escape COPPA compliance by its “age gate”

As shown in Exhibit I, YouTube blocks someone under age 13 from registering for a

YouTube account, and it will not allow that person to try again using a different birthdate.

Google may argue that it is not directed to children because it “age gates,” that is, blocks users

which provide a date of birth showing they are under 13 from creating an account on YouTube.

Under COPPA, a website or online service that is directed to children under the multifactor test,

but does not target children as its primary audience, will not be deemed as child-directed if it

meets the following conditions: it “(i) does not collect personal information from any visitor

prior to collecting age information, and (ii) prevents the collection, use, or disclosure of personal

information from visitors who identify themselves as under age 13 without first complying with”

COPPA’s notice and parental consent requirements.

YouTube cannot take advantage of the age gate exception because although it requires

registration to post videos, it does not require registration to watch videos on YouTube.

Since

Olivia Parker, Kidfluencers: The rise of pint-sized digital trendsetters, Campaign Asia (Jan.

31, 2018),

http://www.campaignasia.com/article/kidfluencers-the-rise-of-pint-sized-digital-

trendsetters/442444.

16 C.F.R. §312.2 (definition of “Web site or online service directed to children”).

In Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Civil Penalty Judgment, United States v.

Yelp, Inc., Case No. 3:14 -CV-4163 (N.D. Ca. Sept. 23, 2014), the FTC found that Yelp had

actual knowledge that children were using the service because it allowed individuals who input

that they were under age 13 to register and use the service. While YouTube does prevent a child

from registering, unlike Yelp, YouTube does not require users to register to use its service.

YouTube collects personal information from all viewers (e.g., IP addresses, device information,

geolocation and persistent identifiers) regardless of whether they create an account, and without

first giving notice and obtaining parental consent, it does not fall within the exception.

C. Google collects personal information from all YouTube users, including children

Because portions of YouTube are directed to children and Google has actual knowledge

that a large number of children use YouTube, it is subject to COPPA. COPPA applies to all

personal data, whether collected actively or passively.

It defines personal information to mean

“individually identifiable information about an individual collected online.” Specific types of

personal information include:

• a telephone number;

• geolocation information sufficient to identify street name and name of a city or

town;

• persistent identifiers that can be used to recognize a user over time and across

different Web sites or online services. Such persistent identifiers include, but are

not limited to, a customer number held in a cookie, an Internet Protocol (IP)

address, a processor or device serial number, or a unique device identifier; and

• information concerning the child or the parents of that child that the operator

collects online from the child and combines with another identifier described in

the definition.

The Google privacy policy, which applies to YouTube, is attached as Exhibit J. It clearly

states that Google collects these types of personal information from users, including “unique

device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number.”

The privacy

Complaint and consent order available at: https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-

proceedings/132-3066/yelp-inc.

16 C.F.R. §312.2 (definition of “collection”).

Id. (definition of “personal information”).

Exhibit J at 1.

policy further discloses that “we may collect and process information about your actual

location” using various technologies to determine location, including IP address, GPS, and other

sensors.

The privacy policy also discloses that it uses persistent identifiers to recognize a user over

time and across different websites or online services. The FTC added persistent identifiers to

COPPA’s definition of personal information in 2012 because it found that “persistent identifiers

permit the online contacting of a specific individual,” including “behavioral advertising.”

Recognizing that personal identifiers may also be used for other purposes, the FTC created an

exception to the requirement of prior parental consent for persistent identifiers used solely to

provide “support for the internal operations of the Web site or online service.”

The FTC

explained that

[w]ithout parental consent, operators may not gather persistent

identifiers for the purpose of behaviorally targeting advertising to a

specific child. They also may not use persistent identifiers to amass

a profile on an individual child user based on the collection of such

identifiers over time and across different Web sites in order to make

decisions or draw insights about that child, whether that information

is used at the time of collection or later.

YouTube’s privacy policy leaves no doubt that it tracks users over time and across

different websites to create profiles and to target ads based on that information. The privacy

policy states that it collects information from its users to show them “more relevant search

Id. at 2 (the bold text is in the original, indicating that it links to another page for more

information).

SBP, 78 Fed. Reg. at 3980.

16 CFR §312.2 defines the internal operations of the Web site or online service as activities

necessary to perform certain listed functions, such as user authentication, capping the frequency

of advertising, and protecting security or integrity. The definition explicitly provides that such

information must “not be used or disclosed to contact a specific individual, including through

behavioral advertising, to amass a profile on a specific individual, or for any other purpose.”

SBP, 78 Fed. Reg. at 3981.

results and ads.”

It offers as an example that a user who watches videos about baking on

YouTube will see more ads that relate to baking.

The privacy policy also makes clear that Google uses information collected from

YouTube users to serve advertisements. It says “[w]e collect information about the services that

you use and how you use them, like when you watch a video on YouTube, visit a website that

uses our advertising services, or view and interact with our ads and content.”

The privacy

policy also explains that Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies

to collect and store information when you interact with services we

offer to our partners, such as advertising services or Google features

that may appear on other sites. Our Google Analytics product helps

businesses and site owners analyze the traffic to their websites and

apps. When used in conjunction with our advertising services, such

as those using the DoubleClick cookie, Google Analytics

information is linked, by the Google Analytics customer or by

Google, using Google technology, with information about visits to

multiple sites.

As discussed in the next section, YouTube does not have a separate privacy policy for

children. Nor does the privacy policy even mention children. There is no reason to think that

YouTube treats information collected from children any differently than that collected from other

users. This conclusion was confirmed by YouTube’s Director of Public Policy and Government

Relations, Juniper Downs, in her testimony at a recent hearing held by the UK’s House of

Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee. In response to the question “how do

you differentiate between adult consumption and child consumption?” Downs answered: “we

Id.

Ads you’ll find most useful, Google Privacy & Terms,

https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/example/ads-youll-find-most-useful.html (last

accessed Mar. 19, 2018).

Google Privacy Policy, Exhibit J at 2 (emphasis added).

Id. (“Cookies and Similar Technologies”)

don’t look at adult consumption versus child consumption. The recommendations are based on

the video that is being watched and content that is associated with that video, or with the watch

history of the individual signed-in user.”

D. YouTube does not provide parental notice nor obtain parental consent prior to

its collection of children’s personal information, as COPPA requires

Where portions of a website or online service are directed to children or the operator has

actual knowledge that it is collecting personal information from children, COPPA Rule §312.4

requires “the operator to provide notice and obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting,

using, or disclosing personal information from children.” YouTube does not provide notice to

parents, nor does it obtain advance verifiable parental consent.

1. YouTube does not have a children’s privacy policy

COPPA Rule §312.4(d) requires that operators “post a prominent and clearly labeled link

to an online notice of its information practices with regard to children on the home or landing

page if its Web site or online service, and, at each area . . . where personal information is

collected from children.” YouTube’s home page provides a link to its privacy policy in light

gray, hard-to-read type, at the bottom left hand of the screen. Clicking this link takes the user to

the Google Privacy Policy. There is no separate link for a children’s privacy policy, nor does the

Google Privacy Policy contain any reference to a children’s privacy policy. Indeed, the Privacy

Policy does not use the word “child” or “children” at all.

British Committee Hearing on “Fake News,” Google and YouTube Panel, C-Span (Feb. 8,

2018), video available at https://www.c-span.org/video/?440521-6/british-committee-hearing-

fake-news-google-youtube-panel (starting at approximately 52:58).

2. YouTube makes no effort to provide direct parental notice

COPPA Rule §312.4(b) requires operators to make reasonable efforts “to ensure that a

parent of a child receives direct notice of the operator’s practices with regard to the collection,

use, or disclosure of personal information from children,” including notice of any material

changes. YouTube makes no effort to ensure that parents receive direct notice of its collection

practices or any of the other information required by the rule.

3. YouTube fails to obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting

personal information from children

COPPA Rule §312.5 requires operators to “to obtain verifiable parental consent before

any collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children.” The rule provides

several examples of acceptable means of obtaining parental consent. YouTube, however, makes

no effort to employ any of these methods or to procure parental consent by another means.

III. Conclusion and Request for Relief

This request for investigation presents overwhelming evidence that Google is violating

COPPA by collecting personal data from children on YouTube without providing notice and

obtaining prior verifiable parental consent. Thus, the FTC should investigate and take

enforcement action against Google.

The FTC should enjoin Google from committing further violations of COPPA, impose

effective means for monitoring compliance, and assess substantial civil penalties. The FTC has

authority to assess up to $41,484 per COPPA violation. To determine the appropriate amount,

the FTC considers “the egregiousness of the violations, whether the operator has previously

violated the Rule, the number of children involved, the amount and type of personal information

collected, how the information was used, whether it was shared with third parties, and the size of

the company.”

Application of these factors warrants civil penalties totaling tens of billions of dollars.

Google’s violations are particularly egregious. Google had actual knowledge of both the large

number of child-directed channels on YouTube and the large numbers of children using

YouTube. Yet, Google collected personal information from nearly 25 million children in the U.S

over a period of years,

and used this data to engage in very sophisticated digital marketing

techniques. Google’s wrongdoing allowed it to profit in two different ways. Google has not only

made a vast amount of money by using children’s personal information as part of its ad networks

to target advertising, but has also profited from advertising revenues from ads on its YouTube

channels that are watched by children.

Indeed, Google is the second wealthiest company in the

Complying with COPPA: Frequently Asked Questions (“COPPA Enforcement”),

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-

questions (last visited Mar. 16, 2018).

At minimum, an estimated 25 million children ages 6 to 12 use YouTube in the U.S. To

estimate this figure, we used census data showing that there are 73,673,073 persons under age

18. U.S. Gov. Census Bureau Data-July 1 2016,

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216. According to a 2016 KidsCount

Data Center population survey, children ages 0-4 accounted for 27% of persons under age 18

(19,891,729) and children ages 5-11 accounted for 39% (28,732,498). KidsCount Data Center—

2016 data (last updated in 2017), http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/101-child-

population-by-age-group#detailed/1/any/false/870/62,63,64,6,4693/419,420. A 2017 study found

that that 96% of children ages 6-12 are aware of YouTube and that 90% of those children use

YouTube, which calculates to 86.5% of children in that age range as YouTube users. See 2017

Brand Love Study. We multiplied 28,732,498 by 0.865 which totals 24,853,611 million children.

This estimate is probably low because it does not include children under age 6.

Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Civil Penalty Judgment, United States v. Retro

Dreamer, Case No. 5:15-cv-02569 (C.D. Ca., Dec. 17, 2015). (FTC increased penalty on

company that knowingly violated COPPA to make money by using children’s personal

information for targeted advertising). Complaint and consent order available at:

https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/142-3262/retro-dreamer.

world, with a net worth totaling $101.8 billion.

Thus, the parties request that the FTC assess

civil penalties that will deter Google from violating COPPA again.

Respectfully Submitted,

/s/ Angela J. Campbell

Angela J. Campbell

Chris Laughlin

Institute for Public Representation

Georgetown University Law Center

600 New Jersey Avenue NW, Suite 312

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 662-9535

Counsel for Center for Digital Democracy and

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Aisling Moloney, How Much is Google Worth? Metro News (Nov. 24, 2017),

http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/24/how-much-money-is-google-worth-7106408/. Google witnessed a

23% net worth increase in 2017 and could potentially displace Apple as the world’s top brand,

which exhibited only a 10% increase. The World’s Most Valuable Brands: 2017 Ranking,

Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/ (last visited Mar. 19, 2018).

Much of the research and drafting for this request was done by Georgetown Law students

Spencer Beall, Victor Wang, Adam Kornetsky, and Ethan Plail, supervised by IPR attorneys.

A-1

Exhibit A

Google AdWords

These screen shots taken on Dec. 7, 2017, show some of the categories that advertisers can use to

find their desired audience using AdWords. Advertisers may use keywords such as “kid,”

“child,” “toddler,” “baby” and “toys.”

The first screen shot shows advertisers’ abilities to select demographic filters for parents. The

advertising industry has recognized the value of using parents to target young children and

babies: “[i]t goes without saying that for any type of business that targets babies, young children,

and/or their parents (for example, baby clothing retailers), the AdWords new targeting feature

could be incredibly valuable.”

Max Braglia, Parental Status Targeting Now Available in Google AdWords, MoreVisibility

(Jun. 26, 2014), https://www.morevisibility.com/blogs/sem/parental-status-targeting-now-

available-in-google-adwords.html.

A-2

The next two screen shots show how advertisers can input keywords related to their brand (e.g.,

“toy” or “toddler) and receive a variety of relevant suggestions for keywords that can be used to

further target advertising.

A-3

B-1

Exhibit B

Examples of Advertisements on YouTube Channels Directed to Children

These screen shots were taken on Oct. 6, 2017. They show advertisements for Barbie on

YouTube channels directed to children.

The first screen shot shows an example of how the ad for Barbie appears on the computer screen

while a child-directed video is playing. Note that the ad looks just like the other recommended

videos, except that it has a small yellow label signifying that it is an ad.

B-2

This second screen shot shows a child-directed video using the YouTube app on a mobile device.

It shows the same Barbie ad below the child-directed video.

C-1

Exhibit C

2014 Family and Children’s Interests Lineup

This list provides a sampling of channels included in Google Preferred’s “Family and Children’s

Interests” Lineup as of Apr. 18, 2014.

The channels marked with orange stars were also in Google Preferred’s Parenting & Family

Lineup as of February 2018. Note that DisneyCarToys has changed its name to Sandaroo Kids.

Joshua Cohen, Meet the Top 1% of YouTube’s “Google Preferred” Channels For Advertisers

(Exclusive), Tubefilter (Apr. 18, 2014) https://www.tubefilter.com/2014/04/18/youtube-google-

preferred-channels-top-1-percent-advertisers/.

D-1

Exhibit D

Excerpt from YouTube’s Terms of Service

E-1

Exhibit E

Screen Shots of ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs

These screen shots of ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs were taken on March 8, 2018.

E-2

F-1

Exhibit F

Descriptions of Circled Channels in Parenting & Family Lineup

(as shown on page 13)

• FUNnel Vision: “…We like to say HAVE A FUNnel Day, like Fun 'Ol Day 'cause that's

what we do on this channel! … Videos with Play Doh, Dressed up in Costumes (SCARE

CAM VIDEOS!) … travel videos like Disney World & Disney Land…Legoland…

Paintball guns, making forts, playgrounds, Trampolines & Bounce Houses…the list goes

on forever!! ”

• EvanTubeHD: “Our channel is all about KID FUN! Toys, Challenges, Animals, Video

Games, Science Experiments, Special Effects, Animation and Attractions! If it's fun for

kids, you'll find it here!”

• Baby TV: “BabyTV is the world’s leading baby and toddler network from FOX. The

educational, infant focused channel brings exclusive programs for children, as well as a

wide variety of nursery rhymes, baby songs and learning games!”

• MMPRtoys: “Power Rangers & Super Sentai toy videos! Fun toy animations, reviews,

news, discussions, interviews, and Power Morphicon/Power Rangers convention info.

Welcome to Bruno & Mia's MMPRtoys!”

• SevenSuperGirls: “SevenSuperGirls is the largest all-girl Partner collaboration on

YouTube!” (Videos feature “fluffy unicorn slime” and “magic keyboards”)

• NerfBoyProductions: “Hey welcome to NERFBoyProductions! On this channel you'll

find everything to do with NERF and general blaster toys. Everything from reviews, to

mod guides, to wars and much more! If you're into NERF, this is the place to be! Be sure

to subscribe in order to keep up with all of the latest NERF news. :)”

FUNnel Vision, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/intellegentz/about (last

visited Mar. 6, 2018).

EvanTubeHD, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/EvanTubeHD (last visited

Mar. 6, 2018).

BabyTV, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/BabyTVChannel/about (last visited

Mar. 6, 2018).

MMPRtoys, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/MMPRtoys/about (last visited

Mar. 6, 2018).

SevenSuperGirls, About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/SevenSuperGirls/featured

(last visited Mar. 6, 2018).

NerfBoyProductions, About, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/user/NerfBoyProductions/about (last visited Mar. 20, 2018).

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• NayBeeTV: “Watch the quirky, funny adventures of the Sherwood family, the most

famous barbie doll family on the internet!”

• Bratayley: “Watch these crazy kids as they make everyday an adventure.”

• BrickVault: “Brick Vault is dedicated to bringing you the best in Lego set unboxing,

building and reviews. Created by a group of passionate Lego enthusiasts Brick Vault

hopes to inspire and share our passion for Lego with the world.”

• Cartoon Network: “Welcome to the official Cartoon Network channel on YouTube!

Make yourself at home and enjoy lots of free video clips from shows like Teen Titans

Go!, O.K.KO!, Steven Universe, The Amazing World of Gumball, Adventure Time,

Unikitty and more!”

• Build-a-Bear: “The official channel for Build-A-Bear Workshop, Where Best Friends

Are Made! Become a VIB (Very Important Bear) by following us on Facebook, Twitter,

and Instagram for more amazing content from the Workshop. Stay pawsome!”

NayBeeTV: About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/HappyFamilyShow/about (last

visited Mar. 6, 2018).

Bratayley: About, https://www.youtube.com/user/Bratayley/about (last visited Mar. 6, 2018).

BrickVault: About, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrhb3SP2lZBgguLHIWWuHOQ/about (last visited Mar. 6,

2018).

Cartoon Network: About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/cartoonnetwork/about (last

visited Mar. 6, 2018).

Build-a-Bear: About, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Buildabearworkshop1/about

(last visited Mar. 6, 2018).

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Exhibit G

Screen Capture of the Complete List of the

U.S. Google Preferred: Parenting & Family Lineup (as of March 2018)

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Exhibit H

Analysis of Tags on Videos on Family & Parenting Line Up

Summary of Findings:

Google urges content creators to utilize tags when uploading videos to YouTube. It

describes tags as “descriptive keywords that will help people find your videos.”

We analyzed

the tags of over 290,000 videos available on the 305 channels in the Parenting & Family Lineup.

By using “flag terms” (variants of “toy,” “child,” “kid,” “toddler” and “baby”) to determine

whether videos were directed to children, we found that 69% of all videos in this line up

contained at least one flag term. The percentages were higher for the most popular channels.

Approximately 80% of the videos on the top 25% of channels had tags containing a flag term,

while about 82% of the videos on the top 10% had tags containing a flag term. On four of the

most popular children’s channels, the percentage of videos with the flag terms was over 90% –

ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs (92.9%), LittleBabyBum (98.7%), FunToys

Collector Disney Toys Review (97.2%), and HobbyKidsTV (99.0%).

Methodology:

We found a webpage that contained the list of the channels in the Google Preferred:

Parenting & Family lineup on YouTube as of October 2017. The lineup consisted of 305

channels with over 290,000 videos. We downloaded the HTML for that webpage. All the

channel IDs and usernames contained in the Parenting & Family lineup were included in this

HTML document.

The information for each channel was stored in a <a> tag within the HTML. In the

example below, taken from the HTML, the bolded section represents the unique YouTube

channel ID.

<a is="yt-endpoint" class="style-scope yt-dropdown-menu iron-

selected"

href="/channel/UCcL77v4By3Z5TJWewictQAg/channels?flow=

grid&shelf_id=9777624519558156538&view=49"

tabindex="0" aria-selected="true">

All channel IDs were collected in the Parenting & Family lineup.

We then used the YouTube API to fill in the channel level metadata. We used a simple

code to cycle through all the entries in the channel list. Then, using the Python Requests library,

we queried the API for additional metadata about each channel. The requests yielded a JSON

response which contained metadata about each channel including (1) the date it was started; (2)

its total number of views; (3) its total number of subscribers; and (4) a list of all the channel’s

videos, including a unique video identifier for each video.

Optimize your content, Think With Google (Oct. 2015),

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/youtube/optimize-your-content/ (last

visited Mar. 11, 2018).

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Next, we queried each channel’s JSON file for each unique video ID using the YouTube

API. The API returned a JSON object containing metadata for each video relating to view count,

tags, titles, and descriptions. The video metadata entry for each video was queried to produce a

list of all the tags used by the videos in the Parenting & Family lineup. The list of tags was sorted

and counted to produce a list of the most popular tags across all videos in the lineup.

After examining the data in the aggregate, we identified five “flag terms” to test whether

a video was child directed:

Toy (and variants thereof)

Child (and variants thereof)

Kid (and variants thereof)

Baby (and variants thereof)

Toddler (and variants thereof)

Next, from this list, we identified ‘flag terms’ for testing purposes. If a video in the lineup

had a tag containing one of these terms, it was considered likely to contain child-directed

content. Once a video was marked as containing one of the flag terms, no additional marking was

made if the video contained multiple flag terms.

Results:

These are the top ten tags, as measured by the number of times each tag appears.

Toys – 46617

Kids – 45599

Toy – 39383

Family – 38103

Children – 27272

Baby – 26732

Funny – 25972

Review – 24618

Fun – 24109

Vlog – 22526

By comparing the tags containing the flag terms against all others tags on the videos in

the lineup, we determined that 204,500 videos, or roughly 69.5% of all videos in the lineup,

contained at least one flag term.

We performed the same analysis separately to the top 25% and top 10% of videos in the

lineup. We found a positive correlation between the percentage of flag term occurrences and

popularity (as determined by overall view count). Of the 73,535 videos in the top 25% of the

most viewed videos in the lineup, 58,828 of them, or roughly 80%, had tags containing a flag

H-3

term. Of the 29,414 videos in the top 10% in the lineup, 24,151 of them, or roughly 82.11%, had

tags containing a flag term.

We also used the same flag terms to perform a similar analysis of four specific channels

in the Parenting & Family lineup. The four channels tested were: 1) ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes

& Kids Songs; 2) LittleBabyBum; 3) FunToys Collector Disney Toys Review; and 4)

HobbyKidsTV.

• “ChuChuTV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs” had 183 videos with a combined total

of 10,692,643,871 views and 12,189,145 subscribers. Of the 183 videos on that

channel, 170 of them, or 92.9%, had tags containing the flag terms.

• “LittleBabyBum” had 553 videos with a combined total of 14,500,674,307 views and

12,908,592 subscribers. Of the 552 videos on that channel, 545 of them, or 98.7%,

had tags containing the flag terms.

• “FunToys Collector Disney Toys Review” had 2380 videos with a combined total of

13,323,937,637 views and 9,505,249 subscribers. Of the 2380 videos on that channel,

2317 of them, or 97.2%, had tags containing the flag terms.

• “HobbyKidsTV” had 2720 videos with a combined total of 5,321,828,199 views and

2,630,180 subscribers. Of the 2720 videos on that channel, 2694 of them, or 99.0%,

have tags containing the flag terms.

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Exhibit I

YouTube’s Account Registration Age Gate

This screen shot shows how a user is prevented from subsequent account registration attempts

after initially representing that s/he is under age 13.

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Exhibit J

Google Privacy Policy

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