A judge approved Google’s $30 million settlement to families over accusations it invaded kids’ privacy on YouTube – and people eligible to benefit from the class-action suit need to file by Jan. 21 to claim their award.
US Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen on Tuesday gave the final stamp of approval to the settlement, ending a six-year legal battle in which parents claimed Google violated children’s privacy by collecting data while they watched YouTube videos.
The 2019 lawsuit alleged YouTube “baited” kids into watching cartoons and nursery rhymes, collected their data without parental consent and then profited from that data as they used it to better advertise to minors.
Google, which owns YouTube, did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. The company did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
The class of people entitled to settlement payments includes all people in the US who were under 13 and watched content “allegedly directed to children on YouTube” between July 1, 2013, and April 1, 2020, according to the ruling.
To receive a settlement payment, class members must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 21, 2026. Claimants can file at youtubeprivacysettlement.com or fill out a paper form and mail or e-mail it to the YouTube Privacy Settlement administrator.
The administrator warned against filing false claims, which is an act of perjury.
During the Tuesday hearing, Steven Bloch, lawyer for the class members, said there could be about 1 million legitimate claims, with each member awarded about $20 to $30, after attorney fees and other expenses. Bloch did not immediately respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Exact payment amounts will depend on how many claims are filed with the settlement administrator.
The judge set aside $9 million – or 30% of the settlement – for attorney fees. Van Keulen argued that was “reasonable and fair” since attorneys spent 9,000 hours working on the case despite the possibility they would not win an award for class members.
Van Keulen also awarded $1,500 to each guardian involved in the class action suit, for a total of $27,000.
While it’s free for users to make a YouTube account, the video-sharing site is a revenue source for Google – getting most of its money from advertisers.
Lawyers for the parents involved in the case alleged YouTube collected children’s data – including IP addresses, device serial numbers and geolocation data – without parental consent to improve their advertising and increase profits.
In the suit, parents also accused specific YouTube account owners – including Dreamworks Animation, Cartoon Network and Hasbro – of directing content to children in order to collect their data.
The judge did not hold these account owners responsible, arguing there was not enough evidence to “sufficiently tie” them to Google’s alleged sneaky data collection.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
