New York: Google and Viacom defeated an appeal in a nationwide class action lawsuit by parents who claimed the companies illegally tracked the online activity of children under the age of 13 who watched videos and played video games on Nickelodeon's website.
By a 3-0 vote, the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc, and Viacom Inc were not liable under several federal and state laws for planting "cookies" on boys' and girls' computers, to gather data that advertisers could use to send targeted ads.
The court also revived one state law privacy claim against Viacom, claiming that it promised on the Nick.com website not to collect children's personal information, but did so anyway.
Monday's decision largely upheld a January 2015 ruling by US District Judge Stanley Chesler in Newark, New Jersey. It returned the surviving claim to him.
Jay Barnes, a lawyer for the parents, declined to comment.
Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig said the company is pleased with the dismissals and confident it will prevail on the remaining claim. "Nickelodeon is proud of its record on children's privacy issues and strongly committed to the best practices in the industry," he added.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Monday's decision is a fresh setback for computer users, after the same appeals court last November 10 said Google was not liable under federal privacy laws for bypassing cookie blockers on Apple's Safari browser and Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.
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