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Federal Trade Commission Probing YouTube’s Handling of Children’s Videos: Report

The U.S. government has been investigating claims that the platform “failed to protect kids” and “improperly collected their data.”

The Federal Trade Commission is in the “late stages” of a probe into YouTube and how it handles children’s videos, The Washington Post reports. The FTC reportedly started investigating the platform after receiving complaints—dating back to 2015—which claimed the video-sharing website “failed to protect kids” and “improperly collected their data.” The investigation reportedly could result in a fine and has prompted company executives to discuss major changes to how YouTube handles kids’ content. In particular, executives have reportedly discussed changes to the company’s “algorithm for recommending and queuing up videos” for kids. The Post also cited a report by The Wall Street Journal, which stated the company was considering migrating kid-centric content to a different platform called YouTube Kids in order to avoid exposing children to “problematic” videos. YouTube spokeswoman Andrea Faville declined to comment on the FTC probe, and said many of the website changes were just “ideas.” The FTC also reportedly declined to comment.