Google today agreed to pay a record two-and-a-half-billion-Rands fine and to make changes to protect children’s privacy on YouTube.

Regulators said the video site had knowingly and illegally harvested personal information from youngsters and used the data to profit by targeting them with ads.

Children’s advocates say the fine is a slap on the wrist for one of the world’s richest companies.

They add that Google has simply agreed to abide by a children’s privacy law that it is already obligated to comply with.