Google Play Store Misleads on Children’s Privacy, Groups Tell FTC

Advocacy groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Alphabet Inc.'s Google Play Store misrepresents some apps as safe and appropriate for children when they’re not.

The commission’s “whack-a-mole approach” to bringing enforcement actions against developers of individual children’s apps can’t fix this “systemic” problem with the Google platform, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy said in an updated complaint submitted to the agency Wednesday. An investigation is needed to determine if Google’s system for labeling children’s apps violates FTC rules, the groups argue.

The groups reiterated concerns raised in a 2018 ...