Disney will pay a $10 million penalty for mislabeling videos on YouTube and allowing personal data to be collected from children without notifying parents or getting their consent, the FTC said in an announcement.
The complaint filed in a US District Court, the FCC said, alleged that Disney uploaded videos to YouTube in channels that defaulted to “Not Made For Kids” when the videos should have been labeled “Made For Kids.”
Due to the mislabeling, videos intended for children collected more information than they should have and used that information to target advertising to children under 13. The error, which enabled features like autoplay on the videos, violated COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule.
A representative for Disney did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
In addition to the $10 million civil penalty for allegedly violating COPPA, Disney has agreed to comply with COPPA by notifying parents and getting consent for videos that are “Not Made For Kids” and establishing a review program on how their videos should be labeled. According to the FTC, “this forward-looking provision reflects and anticipates the growing use of age assurance technologies to protect kids online.”
Separately, the FTC also took COPPA-related action against toy maker Apitor Technology, which makes robots aimed at children ages 6 to 14. The FTC alleges the company collected geolocated information from children via a third-party app in China. The FTC is imposing a $500,000 penalty.
