YouTube under federal investigation over allegations it violates kids’ privacy

As the investigation has progressed, YouTube executives in recent months have accelerated internal discussions about broad changes to how the platform handles children’s videos, according to a person familiar with the company’s plans. [Sex, drugs, and self-harm: Where 20 years of child online protection law went wrong]
The internal conversations come after years of complaints by consumer advocates and independent researchers that YouTube had become a leading conduit for political disinformation, hate speech, conspiracy theories and content threatening the well-being of children. The prevalence of preteens and younger children on YouTube has been an open secret within the technology industry and repeatedly documented by polls even as the company insisted that the platform complied with a 1998 federal privacy law that prohibits the tracking and targeting of those under 13.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com