Disney settles charges that it violated children’s online privacy protection law

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The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) gives parents control over the online collection of their children’s personal information. Before a website or app collects personal information from a child under the age of 13, it must notify the parents and get their approval. Under a settlement with the FTC, Disney has agreed to pay a $10 million penalty for violating the COPPA Rule.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that Disney’s practices related to videos posted on Disney’s YouTube channels violated the COPPA Rule. The FTC argued that Disney failed to designate some of its videos as kid-directed, which allowed YouTube to collect personal information from users viewing those videos without their parent’s consent. And those practices allowed YouTube to deliver targeted ads to those users. Both are violations of the COPPA Rule. Also, the complaint alleged that Disney’s practices may have exposed kids to content that was not meant for children, such as through autoplay to videos not meant for kids.

In addition to paying a $10 million penalty, Disney must set up a program to review each video it publishes on YouTube to determine if it is targeted to children.

So, if you’re the parent of children under 13, what can you do to protect their personal information when they’re online?

• Read the website or app’s privacy policy to understand how the company plans to use your child’s information. Websites and apps that are covered by the COPPA Rule — such as those that are directed to children — have to give you notice and seek your consent if they want to collect your child’s personal information.
• Know that it’s up to you to decide if you want to give consent or not. But consent is not all-or-nothing. You have options. For example, you might give the company permission to collect your child’s personal information, but not allow it to share that information with others.
• And if you do give consent, you have the right to
  • review the information collected from your child,
  • revoke your consent, and
  • have your child’s information deleted.

For more advice about protecting your child’s privacy online and talking with them about online safety, check out the FTC’s Protecting Kids Online page. And if you think a website or app has collected or used your child’s information in a way that violates the law, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.