A report from USA Today says that Google is working on new versions of its most popular products targeted directly at children 12-and-under.
According to the report, Google Search, YouTube and Chrome are most likely to be up first, since they have “broad appeal.” Pavni Diwanji, the Vice President of engineering said that “The big motivator inside the company is everyone is having kids, so there’s a push to change our products to be fun and safe for children.”
Yes, everyone can have children, but is it right to directly target products that track service usage at younger kids? The FTC requires companies to get parental consent before companies can use children’s data.
Google isn’t going into this without expecting a fight, with Diwanji pointing out that “we expect this to be controversial, but the simple truth is kids already have the technology in schools and at home, so the better approach is to simply see to it that the tech is used in a better way.”
Diwanji also hinted that Google’s plans involve parental supervision functions, but the company is unsure how much control to give parents at this point.
There’s no hint of when Google might release kid-friendly products, or how far along the company is developing these products. We expect to see something in 2015.
➤ Google to revamp its products with 12-and-under focus [USA Today]
Image credit: Hattanas Kumchai / Shutterstock.com
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