What is children protecting by google ?
How is Google updating its products for underage users?
On YouTube, any video uploaded by a minor will now be in private mode by default. Along with this, YouTube will bring in more digital well-being content for this segment, while also teaching them about commercial content on the platform.
When it comes to Google Search, ‘safe search’, which filters out explicit results, will be turned on by default for all users under the age of 18. At present, this is so only for users under 13. This will also be turned on by default for school accounts on the Google Suite.
Why is Google doing this?
The search giant and other big tech companies have been under pressure to put in place better protection for minor users.
In the US, the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which restricts tracking and targeting to children under the age of 13, could soon be updated to cover those under 18. The Google update seems to align with this. Incidentally, in 2019, Google had to pay a $170-million fine for violating this very Act, and for collecting data of children without the consent of parents.
Facebook-owned Instagram has recently brought in changes that made a lot of features private by default for teenagers. Like Google, Instagram too banned ads targeted on interests or activity of children, but allowed the same for age, gender and location.
( https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/google-children-protection-online-products-7450859/)
