SAN JOSE, CA — A California federal judge has granted preliminary approval for a $30 million settlement in a groundbreaking class action lawsuit accusing Google and its YouTube subsidiary of unlawfully collecting and using children’s personal data without parental consent.

The case, filed by the law firm Silver Golub & Teitell LLP (SGT), centers on claims that Google violated children’s privacy rights by gathering personal information from users under the age of 13 and using it to target them with advertisements. The settlement, signed on September 23, 2025, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, is expected to benefit between 35 million and 45 million children nationwide.

The litigation, known as Hubbard et al. v. Google et al., has spanned six years, involved five judges, and withstood multiple dismissals and appeals. Originally filed in 2019, the case was dismissed twice by Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who ruled that federal law preempted the plaintiffs’ state-level claims under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). However, in December 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed those rulings in a landmark unanimous decision, affirming that state-law remedies overlapping with COPPA are not preempted.

This decision is pivotal because COPPA itself does not allow for private lawsuits—only government regulators can bring enforcement actions. The Ninth Circuit’s ruling now allows individuals to seek compensation for harms caused by similar violations under state law, effectively expanding the avenues available for families seeking redress.

Judge van Keulen further supported the plaintiffs’ position in January 2025, stating that the court could reasonably infer that Google knowingly collected children’s data through YouTube in violation of COPPA.

The case continues in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California under docket number 5:19-cv-07016.