Credit: ArtemisDiana / Shutterstock. Edtech may get into privacy wathdogs’ crosshairs in 2023.

The edtech industry ballooned during the pandemic, but analysts now predict the sector’s growth will make it a target for privacy regulators.

“Edtech, otherwise known as educational technology, will be the next frontier for data privacy scrutiny,” Carolina Pinto, analyst at GlobalData, said in a new podcast from the research firm.

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The news comes after investment into the edtech space has plummeted from its pandemic heights. The growth of venture capital (VC) injections have often been attributed to the fact that a string of lockdowns forced educational providers to go digital.

As a result, the level of VC money injected into the edtech sector jumped from $5.3bn in 2019 to $15.6bn in 2021, according to data from GlobalData. That figure has dropped to $6.5bn in 2022.

However, Pinto suggested that falling funding levels isn't the only problem that edtech provider will have to lookout for in 2023.

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Regulators around the world, she said, are increasingly growing wary of what kind of data the industry collects as it grows.

Last year, China cracked down on the country's $100bn edtech sector, citing privacy concerns. Pinto argued that more regulators will follow in Beijing's footsteps and launch similar probes in 2023.

"In 2023, this is going to move towards the West and the government's here are going to follow suit," Pinto said. "There's already a few government led investigations in the US the UK and the Netherlands, which will likely result in large fines and bands. For example this year, Denmark and Germany have already banned some Google products for use in schools."

GlobalData is the parent company of Verdict and its sister publications.