Actual Claimants Expected at Only About 1% — Hundreds of Thousands
Google will resolve a class action lawsuit filed for Children''s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) violations with a $30 million (approximately 41B KRW) settlement — related to allegations that Google illegally collected YouTube viewing data of children under 13 from July 2013 to April 2020.
US COPPA prohibits collecting data of children under 13 without parental consent. The plaintiffs alleged Google used children''s viewing data for advertising and recommendation algorithms. Google denied legal violations but chose settlement to avoid the burden of prolonged litigation. External reports estimate up to 35-45 million people potentially eligible for compensation — reflecting the total scale of children under 13 using YouTube during the relevant period. However, actual claimants will be far fewer: applying typical class action participation rates (1-10%), actual claimants may remain in the hundreds of thousands. The "450,000" figure mentioned in some articles is a realistic estimate considering participation rate, not a court document figure.
Google had already paid $170M in 2019 to the FTC and New York state attorney general in a similar case. This case was filed in the same context, showing Google continues facing pressure from regulators and civil organizations on children''s data protection. Experts view this settlement as "not simple financial compensation but a warning to global big tech''s children''s data handling practices." YouTube, TikTok, Meta, and other platforms with significant child/youth usership are expected to be more greatly affected by strengthened regulations like COPPA and Europe''s GDPR-K. Going forward, Google will face pressure to establish new safeguards such as real-time monitoring and transparent data processing — otherwise the gap between its advertising-centered revenue model and social trust may widen further.
