Google has been accused of emailing a 13-year-old on his birthday and outlining the way for the teen to remove parental controls from his account.
In a post on LinkedIn, Melissa McKay, the president of Digital Childhood Institute, wrote on January 12 that Google had emailed her youngest child telling him that is almost 13 and eligible to remove parental controls.
“A trillion dollar corporation is directly contacting every child to tell them they are old enough to “graduate” from parental supervision. The email explains how a child can remove those controls themselves, without parental consent or involvement,” she wrote, adding that Google is “asserting authority over a boundary that does not belong to them. It reframes parents as a temporary inconvenience to be outgrown and positions corporate platforms as the default replacement. Call it what it is. Grooming for engagement. Grooming for data. Grooming minors for profit.”
She added, “In nearly ten years as an online safety advocate, this is among the most predatory corporate practices I have seen. Absolutely reprehensible. Corporations should stay the hell away from our kids.”
Parents can supervise the Google accounts of their children through Family Link tool, this allows them to set screen time limits, manage app downloads and purchases, filter explicit content in search, track their device location, and control account data.
Google’s policy states that when children whose accounts are managed with Family Link turn 13 (or the applicable age in their country), they can decide to: keep parental supervision or manage their own account.
It has, however, been reported that Google is now changing its policy. In another LinkedIn post, Google’s Kate Charlet shared that the platform is working towards minors getting parental approval beforing turning off supervision.
“At Google, we build supervision tools that are transparent by design and give parents the ability to decide what is right for their families. We are continuously evolving our products to provide age-appropriate experiences and enhance parental controls,” she wrote. “Currently, Google emails both children and their parents before the minor reaches the age of digital consent to help ensure the transition to a teen account is a collaborative family decision. Under our planned policy update, any supervised minor will have to get parental approval before they can turn off supervision. These changes better ensure protections stay in place until both the parent and teen feel ready for the next step. As always, many of our safeguards are automatically enabled for everyone under 18, regardless of whether or not they are under parental supervision.”
Google has reportedly said that its policy should now be adjusted, and 13-year-olds shouldn’t be able to remove supervision without permission, adding that their support documents have yet to be updated.
