Privacy concerns involving Facebook have been in the spotlight lately, and now some consumer advocacy groups have a major issue with YouTube. The groups claim the site has been violating underage children's privacy.
YouTube has had a YouTube "Kids" platform for a couple years to try to keep content separated from children and those who are 13 and older. The app was supposed to filter out all adult content, but failed. Now, parents are able to pick from a selection of "trusted" channels so they have control of what they're children are watching.
Social media expert John McCulley said you have to be 13 to watch content on YouTube, but it's pretty simple for kids to access videos if they're younger.
"You can beat the system pretty easily by putting in the wrong birthday, so it's basically parents paying attention to what their kids are watching in general," McCulley said.
Right now, if you watch a YouTube video when you aren't logged in, YouTube only has access to what you're watching and what you watched before that. If you are logged in, the site has access to much more.
"YouTube has access to everything Google has access to because you login with your Gmail account. We're talking about emails, search history and advertising data," McCulley said.
He said you shouldn't be worried about YouTube taking your information that they don't have access too, but you also need to pay attention to the privacy policies and terms of service so you understand fully how the platform works.