YouTube could remove children’s content from its platform

The Google-owned video service has come under fire for not better protecting its younger users.

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Video-sharing website YouTube is considering the removal of all children's content from its platform [Dado Ruvic/Reuters]

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the United States Federal Trade Commission is in the late stages of an investigation into how Google’s YouTube website handles children’s videos – a probe prompted by complaints that the company not only failed to protect kids who used the service, but improperly collected their data.

The newspaper said that Google faces a possible fine and that YouTube executives have accelerated internal talks about possible changes in how the service recommends videos to viewers.

Reports this week said YouTube is also considering moving all its content for children into a separate app.

The FTC issued no statement about this development, and Google spokeswoman Andrea Faville said the company had no comment on the Washington Post report. She added in a statement that the company considers “lots of ideas for improving YouTube”.

Source: AP