The Department of Justice announced that a federal court approved a settlement that sees Disney paying $10 million in civil penalties after violating children’s online privacy. The case surrounds the company’s YouTube content. According to the complaint, Disney failed to designate its YouTube content as directed towards children, which led to targeted advertising and the unlawful collection of children’s data without parental consent.
Disney is now required to create a program to ensure compliance with children’s privacy protections moving forward.
“The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “The Department will take swift action to root out any unlawful infringement on parents’ rights to protect their children’s privacy.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Disney “allowed personal data to be collected from children who viewed kid-directed videos on YouTube without notifying parents or obtaining their consent as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule).” Under a proposed September order, Disney must change how it designates videos considered “Made for Kids” and encourage age-appropriate technology on YouTube.
“Disney’s failure to accurately designate child-directed videos as [Made for Kids] results in YouTube collecting personal information and placing targeted advertisements on child-directed videos on Disney’s behalf,” the complaint stated, noting that “at least twelve different ad campaigns with over 350,000 ad impressions ran on these MFK channels.”
Disney had been asked to change its designations for videos in 2020.
