Amazon on Wednesday filed a $25 million civil fine to settle a federal lawsuit for storing sensitive information, including precise location information and voice recordings collected from children for years in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Act. Agreed to pay the dollar.
It was the latest legislative move in a growing regulatory effort calling on some of the world’s biggest tech platforms to better protect young users.
The lawsuit, filed by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, centers on Amazon’s handling of personal information collected from children who converse with the company’s voice-activated virtual assistant, Alexa.
In a legal complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, the regulator said The tech giant stored the youth’s Alexa voice recordings indefinitely and used the data for business purposes, including training algorithms to understand children, in violation of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Known as COPPA, the law requires online services directed to children under the age of 13 to obtain parental consent before collecting a child’s personal information and to allow parents to delete their child’s data. Obliged. But despite attempts by parents to delete their children’s voice recordings, Amazon was unable to delete the recordings of their children’s conversations with Alexa from all of its databases, regulators said.
“Amazon’s history of misleading parents, storing children’s recordings indefinitely, and ignoring parents’ requests to remove them violates the Children’s Online Privacy Act,” FTC Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levin said in a statement. , said it “sacrificed privacy for profit.” “COPPA does not allow companies to permanently store children’s data for any reason, nor does COPPA allow them to train algorithms.”
The complaint also accuses Amazon of deceiving consumers, including parents, by repeatedly promising users that they can delete data, such as Alexa voice recordings, but failing to properly comply with users’ deletion requests. rice field.
Amazon agreed to settle the complaint, but said it did not agree with the FTC’s allegations and denied violating children’s laws.
“We built Alexa with strong privacy protections and customer control,” the company said in a statement. The company said in a statement that it designed Amazon Kids, a service that allows parents to manage games, books, and other content for children, to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Act, and that Amazon had taken steps to ensure children’s content before expanding. added that it was working with the FTC. Services that include Alexa.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, Amazon would be required to remove children’s voice recordings, precise location data, and inactive Alexa accounts belonging to children. The proposed agreement also prohibits Amazon from misrepresenting how users’ voice recordings, precise location data and children’s data are handled.
A federal court must approve the settlement order.
Amazon’s lawsuit comes at a time of growing public concern about how some prominent social networks, video game services and device makers are treating younger users. The report highlights the increasing efforts of the Federal Trade Commission to force large technology platforms to better protect sensitive information such as precise location and personal health information. , the disclosure of which may pose privacy and physical risks to adult consumers and children.
Last December, Fortnite maker Epic Games was accused by the FTC of illegally collecting data from players under the age of 13 and separately soliciting millions of users to make unwanted payments. agreed to pay $520 million to settle In 2019, Google agreed to pay $170 million in damages to settle charges from the FTC and the New York Attorney General for violating children’s privacy on YouTube.
Increased regulation to protect children online is not limited to the United States. Last September, Irish regulators announced they would fine Meta about $400 million for its handling of children’s information on Instagram. Meta disagrees and said it plans to appeal.
