Disney Fined $10 Million for Collecting Children's Data on YouTube
Disney has agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty due to allegations of violating children’s data collection laws on YouTube, brought forward by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC claims that Disney failed to properly classify its videos as “made for children,” which is a requirement under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
According to the FTC, Disney’s lack of adherence to the “made for children” designation resulted in the unlawful collection of data from users under the age of 13, enabling targeted advertising practices. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson characterized Disney’s actions as a misuse of parental trust and emphasized that the penalty aims to foster a safer online environment for children.
In response, Disney stated its commitment to complying with children’s privacy laws and stressed the importance of children’s and families’ safety and well-being. The company clarified that the agreement pertains solely to content distributed on YouTube and does not extend to other platforms owned and operated by Disney.
It is noteworthy that in 2019, YouTube itself was fined $170 million for similar violations concerning the collection of children’s data, after which content creators were required to categorize their videos more accurately.
The FTC’s complaint indicates that YouTube notified Disney in 2020 that approximately 300 of its videos from popular films had not been correctly labeled as “made for children.” Instead of properly labeling these videos, Disney published many of them on channels that were publicly recognized as “not made for children,” leading to illegal data collection.
Ultimately, Disney will be required to implement a comprehensive audience designation program to ensure accurate classification of all videos published on YouTube, while the agreement provides an opportunity for YouTube to adopt age verification technology, alleviating the need for individual labeling of each video.