A new report accuses Google of serving targeted ads to children and harvesting their data, potentially violating federal privacy laws.

The allegations cast doubt on Google’s previous promises to protect children better online.

The report, published by advertising analytics firm Adalytics, claims that YouTube continues to serve personalized ads and employ ad trackers on videos and channels labeled “made for kids.”

This would break Google’s 2019 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over alleged Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) violations.

COPPA, enacted in 1998, restricts websites and apps from collecting personal data on users under 13 without explicit parental consent.

In its 2019 settlement, Google paid $170 million and pledged to stop collecting data on children’s content and turn off personalized ads.

Details On Report’s Findings

According to Adalytics, Google enables advertisers to target children based on their interests and demographics.

The report includes purported examples of major brands like Disney, Verizon, and Hyundai running behavioral ads on nursery rhyme channels and cartoons.

When clicked, these ads allegedly lead to advertiser websites that immediately set tracking cookies and share children’s data with third parties like Facebook and TikTok without obtaining the required consent.

The report states:

“Many advertisers were observed setting ad targeting cookies, persistent identifiers, and engaging in meta-data sharing with data brokers.”

Some ads were even for Google’s products, including YouTube TV and Chrome, which don’t allow users under 18.

The report claims if a toddler clicked these ads, Google would install cookies for ad personalization.

Google Denies Any Wrongdoing

In response, Google denied flouting any regulations, saying it prohibits personalized ads and third-party trackers on children’s videos.

In a blog post, Google says:

“We do not link cookies to the viewing of made for kids content for advertising purposes, and a viewer’s activity on made for kids content can’t be used for ads personalization.”

Google adds:

“The cookies identified in this report are encrypted and not usable by another tech company, advertiser, publisher or a data broker.”

However, the Adalytics report argues that Google makes it overly difficult for advertisers to opt out of having their ads run on kids’ videos.

“No – it is NOT easy to avoid ‘made for kids’ channels,” media buyers surveyed in the report responded.

The report’s authors claim that tools like Google’s Performance Max algorithm may optimize ad delivery for kids’ clicks.

While Google denied any wrongdoing, the report calls for greater transparency and accountability around ads on children’s content. The findings merit closer regulatory scrutiny.

“We welcome responsible research around our products,” said Google’s statement responding to the report.

Criticism Of YouTube’s Protection Methods

Privacy advocates argue Google’s model facilitates hidden data collection from children. While Google insists its tools prevent this, critics say it needs to do more to close loopholes.

One advertising executive interviewed in the report states:

“Google has failed advertisers, again. There is no reasonable excuse for ads running on content intended primarily for kids.”

Calls For More Scrutiny & Auditing

Whether the report proves that YouTube breached its FTC agreement remains to be seen.

Further independent audits of YouTube’s algorithms and ad systems may be needed to ensure proper safeguards for children are in place.

If confirmed, harvesting children’s data for profit — years after Google paid $170 million for similar violations — would likely provoke stern action.

Google maintains that “protecting kids and teens is a top priority” across its platforms.

Featured Image: Aleksandra Suzi/Shutterstock

Are you tired of your personal information being available on search engines? Let’s be honest. Who isn’t? Well, now Google is updating its privacy tool to make it more powerful and easier than ever to remove your personal information from their search engine.  

Google's 'Results about You' tool was rolled out last year. Google says it's been working hard to make things better since it first launched its software.  

It launched with the intention of allowing people to request the removal of personal information that pops up during Google searches. Personal information can include a phone number, email address, physical address or even unwanted images.   

Now, it is not possible to block your name on Google, or any other search engine such as Bing or Yahoo. However, you can request the removal of Google search results that divulge your personal information. 

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Easily remove your personal information from Google  

The biggest change is that now you can find your information on Google without going through the hassle of searching for it yourself.  

You simply enter your information, and the dashboard will compile a list of sites that contain any matches. You can then submit a request to have the information removed pronto after reviewing these pages. On Google’s hub, you can view the status of all the requests you have made. 

Stay up-to-date with Google’s new push notifications for personal information 

Another addition is you can now receive push notifications that alert you when new results of your information pop up on Google. This makes it much easier for you as you don’t have to constantly reenter your information in the dashboard to check for matches.  

These notifications will tell how many search results on the internet show your personal information. You can then take action on this information and request that the details be taken off the internet.

Expanded removal guidelines 

BEST PRIVATE AND SAFE ALTERNATIVES TO BIG TECH GOOGLE

Google’s policies around the "results about you" feature have also shifted slightly. The removal guidelines used to only focus on information that was posted without consent. Now, they have been expanded, and personal info that you posted intentionally but later wanted to be removed is eligible for removal.  

Commercialized information does not fall under this category. However, there are some search results Google will not be able to remove, so be aware not all your requests will be successful. Google also will never take action against any results from governments or educational institutions.  

New parental control feature & SafeSearch's photo blurring 

There are also new, easier-to-find parental control features and the addition of SafeSearch’s photo blurring, which will blur out potentially explicit images. If you are worried about your family being exposed to inappropriate content, you can now preemptively censor certain things.  

How to request Google to remove your personal information without an account 

TEN TRICKS FOR DOING AN EFFECTIVE GOOGLE SEARCH 

Here's the best part. You don’t even need a Google account to get rid of your own info. There’s a new form you can use all on its own to make your request. Once you send it off, Google will shoot you an email so you can keep tabs on how things are going. You’ll know if they deliver the green light to remove your info. If you do decide to log in, you can also see the progress on the dashboard. 

How to access Google’s ‘Results about you’ dashboard with an account  

Currently, this feature in Google’s "Results about you" dashboard is only available for usage in the U.S. via the Google app or Google site. Here's how to access it: 

Access through the Google App 

• Click on the Google App.
• Tap on your profile picture in the top-right corner.
• Then scroll down and select ‘Results about you’ from the menu. Familiarize yourself with the steps you need to take to remove your personal info on Google.
• Then at the top of the page, search your name or whatever other information you want to be removed.

BIG TECH TOOK YOUR DATA TO TRAIN AI. WE'RE SUING THEM FOR IT

• Click on three dots next to the search result in which you want to be removed.
• Select Remove result on the top of the page and then select whichever reason you have for removing the result.
• Enter the details asked so Google can see whether your request matches with the result, then select Continue at the bottom.
• Finally, click Send request.
• Google will contact you when it's checked your request, letting you know whether it has been approved or denied. You can also view your current requests by checking your "results about you" dashboard.

Access through Google's site 

You can click on the link here. You can follow these steps to submit a request to remove any of your information from the web: 

• Go to Google Search .
• Search your name or whatever other information you want to be removed.
• Click on three dots next to the search result in you want to be removed.

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• Select Remove result on the top of the page and then select whichever reason you have for removing the result.

• Enter the details asked so Google can see whether your request matches with the result, then select Continue at the bottom.

• Finally, click Send request.

• Google will contact you when it's checked your request, letting you know whether it has been approved or denied. You can also view your current requests by checking your "results about you" dashboard.

MORE: SAY HELLO TO GOOGLE WALLET'S 6 AMAZING NEW FEATURES FOR ANDROID PHONES 

Invest in removal services 

In addition to Google's "Results about you" tool, I recommend you invest in a removal service to get your personal information off the hundreds of people search sites out there. While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time.

See my tips and best picks for removing yourself from the internet by going to CyberGuy.com/Delete

Kurt’s key takeaways

It is great to see Google making an effort to increase the safety of its search experience. While removal was possible before, it certainly was not easy.

This is an improved update to their 'Results about You' tool along with the new alerts warning you of your information appearing on the web. It is important to remember that just because your information has been removed from Google, it doesn’t mean all of your information is removed from other parts of the web.

Why do you think Google is making this move to make internet safety more accessible? And do you see this as the start of a potential trend with other engines and sites? Let us know by writing us at CyberGuy.com/Contact 

For more of my security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to CyberGuy.com/Newsletter

Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.

Google has confirmed an issue with the link report within Google Search Console. The issue seems to be impacting the number of links shown in that report.

John Mueller, a Google Search Advocate, said “To update here, we did find something” with the link report. He added, “Hopefully it’ll be resolved this week.”

Link report issues. Last week I covered how many are noticing huge drops in the number of links being reported by Google Search Console’s link report. Initially, John Mueller said there was nothing wrong with the report but then this morning, John apologized for the back and forth and said the team did find an issue.

Here are screenshots of my site showing a fraction of the number of links than it did a year ago and then years and years ago:

The screenshot above is from this week, but the screenshot below is from July 2022:

If we go back to August 2018, you can see it reported 2.5 million links:

Some are reporting only a handful of links being reported by Google Search Console and some are reporting zero links being accounted for.

Google fixing the issue. John Mueller from Google said a fix should be out sometime this week. Will it bring back all of those missing links or just fix the issue for some users seeing a fraction of the number of links? It is unknown, but we will keep an eye on things.

Why we care. Truth is, counting the links you have in Search Console is not going to make much of a difference in terms of how much traffic you get from Google Search or how well you rank in Google Search. So I wouldn’t be concerned if Google is showing fewer links in these reports than you expect.

But it is good to know which sites are linking to you and for those reports to be accurate.

Google has announced several updates to Search aimed at making it easier for people to control information about them that appears in results. The company released a tool last year to help people take down search results containing their phone number, home address or email. Now, the company has updated the "results about you" tool to make it more effective.

A new dashboard will become available in the coming days that will let you know when such personal information pops up in Search. When you get an alert, you'll swiftly be able to ask Google to remove those results.

Earlier this year, the company debuted a Google One feature that can scour the dark web to see if your information has been included in a data breach. This "results about you" update seems to work in a similar way. The fact that it proactively finds results containing your personal info and helps you remove them should make it easier to protect your privacy.

You can access the tool from the Google app by tapping your profile photo and selecting "results about you" or from a dedicated webpage the company has set up. It's available in the US in English for now, but Google plans to offer the tool in other languages and regions soon.

Along similar lines, Google is updating a system that aids users in taking down explicit photos of them. The company has long provided the option for people to request the removal of non-consensual explicit images from search results. It's now expanding that policy to include consensual imagery.

Perhaps you uploaded explicit content of yourself to a website at one point, but decide you no longer want it to be available. If you delete the imagery from that website, you can now ask Google to remove it from search results if it has been published elsewhere without permission. The company notes that the policy doesn't apply to any content you're still commercializing.

It's not exactly rare for owners of websites that deal in explicit imagery to report content from elsewhere. Removing such content from Google Search results won't scrub it from the web entirely, but that may make it more difficult for people to find. You can search for "request removals" in the Google help center to get started.

On top of all that, Google is rolling out updates for parental controls and SafeSearch. Starting this month, Google is blurring explicit imagery (which it defines as adult or graphic violent content) in search results by default, a move it announced earlier this year. You'll be able to turn off SafeSearch blurring from your settings, unless a school network admin or a guardian has locked the setting on your account.

Last but not least, it'll now be much easier to access parental controls from Search. Punch in a query like “google parental controls” or “google family link” and you'll see an information box that explains how to adjust the settings.

The Transparency Center also lists the company's AI principles

Fact checked by Jerri Ledford

Google's facing more scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers, so it's trying to make it easier for you to find relevant transparency policies and information.

Google is making it easier for consumers to find and read its disparate service and product policies.

On Thursday, the company announced the launch of a new Transparency Center. The online hub collects all of the tech giant’s policies in one place and makes them easy to find with the inclusion of a handy search tool. The website also details how Google goes about crafting its rules and enforcing them when they’re broken. You can also access the company’s tools for reporting inappropriate content and appealing infractions directly from the Transparency Center.

From the hub, it's also possible to read every transparency report Google has released since 2010 when it became the first company to publish such a document. Lastly, the center lists Google's AI principles. The entire hub is available on both mobile and desktop devices.

"Some of our most important guiding principles are also available to view, including Google's AI principles—first launched in 2018," writes David Graff, Google's vice president of trust and safety. "By giving you access to our policies and principles, we aim to make it easy to understand the terms, rules, and guidelines for users, developers and creators alike."

The launch of the Transparency Center comes as Google specifically, and tech companies more broadly, face increased scrutiny from US lawmakers and federal authorities related to their business practices. At the start of 2023, for instance, the US Department of Justice sued the company, accusing it of illegally monopolizing the digital ads market. As part of the lawsuit, the Justice Department is seeking to break up one of Google's core businesses.

Google is launching a new Transparency Center to make it easier for users to learn more about its product policies. The central hub collects existing resources and policies to inform users on how Google creates and enforces them.

With the new hub, users can learn more about Google’s policy development process, transparency reports, policies by product or service, and reporting tools.

“As the online threat landscape changes, our policies evolve, helping to prevent abuse on our platforms,” wrote David Graff, Google’s VP of Trust and Safety, in a blog post. “And since the uses of our products differ, we tailor our policies to each platform, aiming to create a safe and positive experience for everyone. With the Transparency Center, you can learn about our policy development process, how we enforce our policies, and view each policy by product and service.”

Google started publishing transparency reports over a decade ago to show users how government policy impacts access to information. Users can now access the Transparency Reports to read more about Google’s transparency reports, insight into how the company enforces its policies across products and where to view them in full.

The Transparency Center has a dedicated page to help users find ways to report harmful content and make appeals across Google’s services.

The hub includes statistics about the actions that Google takes to ensure safety. For instance, the hub’s homepage indicates that Google blocked 5.2 billion bad ads in 2022 across Google products to protect users from scams. The page also notes that Google removed more than 11 million YouTube videos in the second half of 2022 for violating its community guidelines. Also in the second half of 2022, Google removed from Google Search results more than 437,000 URLs reported for CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material).

Google has fixed the issues with the Search Console link report we reported a couple of weeks ago. The issue was the number of links being reported dropped drastically for some site owners.

Resolved. The issue is now resolved. I noticed the links increasing in the report this morning, and then John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, confirmed, saying, “Yeah, I think it should be ok now.”

Reporting glitch only. Google wanted to clarify that this was “just a reporting thing.” The link report did not impact any actual ranking, indexing, or crawling of your website. It just was an issue with the number of links Google displayed in the Search Console link report.

John wrote, “FWIW, it doesn’t have anything to do with how search results work.”

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot from my link report showing an increase in the number of links being reported by Google compared to the previous number. I should add the number is still very low compared to historical data for this site.

Here is the report from a couple of weeks ago:

The screenshot above is from this week, but the screenshot below is from July 2022:

If we go back to August 2018, you can see it reported 2.5 million links:

Why we care. Again, this fix did not fix any specific ranking issues. It only fixed the link report in Google Search Console. Those of you who track links this way can go back into the report and hopefully they will find the number of links being reported more appealing.