San Jose, California - Aug 19, 2025 (UTC) - Google has agreed to a $30 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit alleging the company violated children’s privacy on YouTube by collecting personal data without parental consent. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Google used this data to deliver targeted advertisements, breaching the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The preliminary settlement, filed on August 18, 2025, awaits approval from U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen. Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., denies any wrongdoing but has opted to settle to avoid prolonged litigation.
The lawsuit, C.H. et al v Google LLC et al (Case No. 19-07016), was brought by parents and guardians of 34 children who accused Google of violating multiple state laws. They alleged that YouTube’s content providers, using cartoons, nursery rhymes, and other child-directed content, facilitated the collection of personal information from children under 13 between July 1, 2013, and April 1, 2020. The plaintiffs estimated that the class could include 35 to 45 million U.S. children, with potential payouts of $30 to $60 per claimant if 1-2% of eligible individuals submit claims, after deducting legal fees of up to $9 million.
This settlement follows a 2019 agreement where Google and YouTube paid $170 million to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and New York Attorney General for similar COPPA violations. That settlement, the largest COPPA penalty at the time, required YouTube to implement a system for channel owners to flag child-directed content and ensure compliance with parental consent requirements. Critics, however, argued the 2019 penalty was insufficient, given Alphabet’s $62.7 billion net income in the first half of 2025 alone.
In the recent case, claims against content providers like Hasbro, Mattel, Cartoon Network, and DreamWorks Animation were dismissed in January 2025 due to insufficient evidence linking them to Google’s data practices. Mediation began in February, culminating in the proposed settlement. The agreement does not require Google to admit liability but reinforces scrutiny on how tech giants handle children’s data.
The lawsuit highlights ongoing concerns about YouTube’s data practices, particularly its use of persistent identifiers (cookies) to track young users for advertising purposes. Despite Google’s claim that YouTube is not intended for users under 13, the platform’s appeal to children through kid-friendly content has drawn repeated legal challenges. A 2020 UK class action lawsuit, seeking over £2.5 billion, similarly accused YouTube of unlawfully targeting children with data collection, signaling global regulatory pressure.
Google’s settlement reflects a broader trend of tech companies facing penalties for privacy violations. For instance, Microsoft paid $20 million in 2023 for COPPA violations related to Xbox, and Meta settled a Cambridge Analytica-related lawsuit for $725 million in 2022. As privacy regulations tighten, companies are under increasing pressure to protect vulnerable users, particularly children.
The settlement’s approval hearing will determine the final distribution of funds and any additional requirements for Google. For now, the case underscores the challenges of balancing platform accessibility with robust privacy protections for young users.
