Google is reportedly teaching children to override parental controls, which hasn’t gone down well with parents. A woman named Melissa McKay penned a lengthy post on LinkedIn expressing her outrage over Google’s email to her almost 13-year-old child. McKay termed this “grooming minors for profit” and requested companies to stay away from children.
Google sends instruction emails to kids on how to disable parental controls
Google is reportedly advising children to disable parental controls. Online safety advocate and president of the Digital Childhood Institute, Melissa McKay, brought the matter to light when she shared screenshots of Google’s email to her 12-year-old child. McKay slammed the American tech giant for reportedly sending instructional emails to kids on how to disable parental controls.
In a now-viral LinkedIn post, McKay slammed Google for reportedly misguiding children to override parental controls. She wrote, “Google emailed my youngest child today to tell him he is almost 13 and eligible to remove parental controls.”
She alleged that the company is “directly” contacting every child to tell them they are old enough to “graduate” from parental supervision. Google is reportedly sending detailed instructions to minors on how they can override parental controls. McKay berated the tech giant for asserting authority over a boundary that does not belong to them. Moreover, she accused Google of “grooming minors” for data, engagement, and profit. McKay also termed it as one of the “most predatory corporate practices” she has seen. She demanded that corporations stay away from children.
In the screenshot attached to McKay’s LinkedIn post, Google sent an email addressed to Mike. Google told the user that since his birthday was coming up, he could change his account to get access to more apps and services.
Google also notified Mike that children over 13 years of age can remove parental control and operate their accounts independently.
McKay’s post was amplified by Matthew Stoller, a researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project, on X. Most users sided with McKay and slammed the tech giant for reportedly instructing minors to override parental controls.
One user reiterated, “This is grooming behavior!!” A second user penned, “That is terrible. Kids should not be encouraged to ignore parental supervision.”
Originally reported by Anwaya Mane on Mandatory.
