The groups also said some apps appeared to violate the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law that prohibits sites and apps from collecting personal information from children.
A
group of 22 children’s and consumer organizations is calling for a
federal investigation into Google’s marketing of children’s apps
in its Google
Play store, just the latest in a series of rebukes by experts
about how the company handles technology aimed at youngsters.
Google
has promoted the “Family” section of its Play store as a place
where parents can find age-appropriate apps for children. But in a
complaint to the Federal Trade Commission filed on Wednesday, the
advocacy groups said the company’s endorsement of the apps was
misleading. The groups said that some apps in that section contained
content unsuitable for children, showed ads for casino games for
adults or pushed youngsters into watching video ads and making in-app
purchases.
The
groups also said some apps appeared to violate the Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law that prohibits sites
and apps for children from collecting phone numbers, precise
location, photographs, persistent tracking identifiers and other
personal information from children under 13 without verifiable
consent from a parent. The complaint cited an investigation by The
New York Times in September that found some children’s apps
collected precise location information and tracking identifiers
without verifiable parental permission.
Google
has come under mounting scrutiny for its promotion of children’s
apps in its Play store. In April, cybersecurity researchers reported
that more than half of about 6,000 free Android children’s apps
they tested shared personal data in ways that may violate the
children’s privacy law. In September, the attorney general of New
Mexico filed a lawsuit against Google and other companies over
children’s apps. The complaint said that Google had violated a
state law on unfair practices by marketing certain children’s apps
as family-friendly even when the company knew the apps failed to
comply with its own policies on children’s apps.
In
early October, two Democratic senators called for a federal
investigation to examine how app stores like Google Play vet the apps
they categorize as child-friendly and ensure they comply with the
privacy law. And on Wednesday morning those senators — Richard
Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ed Markey of Massachusetts — along
with Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, sent another letter
to the chairman of the F.T.C. pressing for “a comprehensive
investigation into the Google Play store and its compliance” with
children’s privacy and advertising rules.
“There
are massive, at-scale problems with Android apps for children,”
said Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a
Commercial-Free Childhood, a children’s advocacy group in Boston
that led the latest complaint along with the Center for Digital
Democracy, a nonprofit in Washington. “Google is failing to do the
proper vetting of apps in the family section,” he said.
Google
said that it removed thousands of apps from its Designed for Families
program this year when it found policy violations, and had begun to
take action on the apps cited in the consumer groups’ complaint.
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