Disney to pay $10 million for kids’ privacy violations on YouTube
The DOJ accused Disney of mislabeling videos aimed at children, resulting in targeted ads and unlawful data collection.
Disney has agreed to pay $10 million in civil penalties to settle allegations that it violated federal data collection laws designed to protect children. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday that a federal court has entered a stipulated order resolving a case against Disney Worldwide Services and Disney Entertainment Operations.
Federal prosecutors stated that Disney failed to properly label its YouTube content as intended for children. All YouTube creators are required to indicate whether their videos are made for kids. Under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, YouTube cannot collect data about videos made for kids.
By failing to mark the videos as for children, Disney enabled targeted advertising to kids, and personal information was collected without parental notice or consent, prosecutors said.
“The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate in a press release. “The Department will take swift action to root out any unlawful infringement on parents’ rights to protect their children’s privacy.”
A Disney spokesperson told Axios when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) first disclosed details of the settlement: “Supporting the well-being and safety of kids and families is at the heart of what we do. This settlement does not involve Disney-owned and -operated digital platforms but rather is limited to the distribution of some of our content on YouTube’s platform.”
Following a $170 million settlement with the FTC in 2019 for similar COPPA violations, YouTube began requiring creators to indicate whether the videos they upload are “made for kids” or “not made for kids.” Videos marked as made for kids have certain features disabled to comply with COPPA, including personalized advertising, personal information collection, and comments.
The case is among the first in which a content creator has settled with the DOJ since YouTube’s own COPPA settlement.
In addition to the financial penalty, the court order prohibits Disney from violating COPPA on YouTube and requires the company to establish an ongoing content review program to ensure that its videos on the site comply with the law.
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