Google to make changes on YouTube after being slapped with Sh17 billion fine

Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a past event. His company agreed to pay Sh17 billion fine for violating children's privacy on YouTube. (Photo Courtesy)

Google has agreed to pay a record Sh17 billion (170 million dollars) fine and make changes to protect children's privacy on YouTube after they were found culpable of illegally harvesting personal information from children and using it for profit by targeting them with adverts. 

The US Federal Trade Commission and New York's Attorney General will get 136 million and 34 million dollars respectively. They had accused YouTube, which is owned by Google, of violating the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA which prohibits operators of online services from collecting personal data, like home addresses, from children under 13 without a parent's verifiable permission.