After initially declining to sign, the technology giant Google has joined a growing number of companies committing to a “student-privacy pledge” launched by advocacy groups and endorsed by the White House.
Google has come under heavy scrutiny for privacy practices that critics have feared would open the door to students’ personal information being used for advertising purposes.
At the time of President Barack Obama’s announcement, the pledge had been signed by 75 companies—though Google, among others, was noticeably absent from the list. As of last week, the number of signatories had risen to 91.
