Facebook And Google Under Pressure To Stop Advertising To Under-18

Giant tech firms, including Facebook and Google, have been urgently advised to stop advertising to under-18 in a letter, which has been signed by several members of Parliament, educational, and children’s rights advocates. This action is now being taken due to the current behavioral advertising done by the media platforms, which possibly compromises privacy, but also puts permits the young generation under certain biased marketing strategic pressure. The firms which are addressed in the letter to stop advertising to under-18 are Microsoft, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google.

Illegal collection of data on minors in Europe

On the other hand, the Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube has also been accused of private mining information by illegitimate measures from around five million individuals who are aged under-13 inside the United Kingdom.

According to the European data protection law, it is completely forbidden and illegal to collect sensitive data on children. The ad-tech corporation, due to their services, has now been able to collect around 72 million data points regarding a single child by the point in time when they turn thirteen, which shows that these business firms does not regard the laws implemented in the region, along with the extension of their extraordinary observation over children.

The letter spotlighted that there is no proper and positive justification for choosing young children as a target for their personalized advertisement, as it is the same for physically preying on a 12 years old child, due to which they multi-million dollar firms should stop advertising to under-18, as the content is having adverse effects on the mental health of the children worldwide. The letter specifically asks these powerful corporations to protect their users on the internet, which is their responsibility.

Lawsuit on YouTube

The total number of twenty-three individuals has signed the petition, including Member of Parliament Caroline Lucas and Dr. Elly Hanson, a clinical psychologist, against the global video-sharing platform YouTube, which is owned by Google. Friends of the Earth have also been mentioned under those who signed this formal request to stop advertising to under-18 minors.

This letter has been coordinated by the GAP (Global Action Plan); according to them, the advertisement of items online has a positive escalation over its consumerism, which consequently increases unrequited negative pressures over the planet. All the business firms which have been involved in this are asked to provide their comments regarding the matter to stop advertising to under-18, but no formal statement has been issued yet.

On a separate side to stop advertising to under-18 children, Privacy advocate Duncan McCann is filing a lawsuit against Google on behalf of more than five million minors residing in the United Kingdom, claiming that the company has broken privacy regulation as they have been tracking the online activity of children.

This is in direct breach of the data and violation of the data protection regulations strictly implemented in both Europe and the United Kingdom. This lawsuit has been filed with the United Kingdom High Court in the month of July against YouTube, for which the video-sharing application would argue that their platform has not been formed for media consumption for children under-13.

McCann has three children of his own under-13, has strongly believed that the multi-million dollar profitable company should pay each child who has suffered from a breach of private and sensitive data should each receive the payment, which could range $129 to $645.

The lawsuit against Google requires a $3.2 billion settlement for the illegitimate collection of data of minors in the United Kingdom. The case is yet to go to trial, after which insight of the conclusion could be provided.

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