Google, YouTube content providers must face US children’s privacy lawsuit

A US appeals court on Wednesday revived a lawsuit accusing Alphabet Inc’s Google and several other companies of violating the privacy of children under 13 by tracking their YouTube activity without parental consent, in order to send them targeted advertising.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle said Congress did not intend to pre-empt state law-based privacy claims by adopting the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

That law gives the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, but not private plaintiffs, the authority to regulate the online collection of personal data about children under the age of 13.