Disney will pay $10 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that the entertainment company facilitated the “unlawful collection” of children’s personal data.
In a complaint filed Tuesday, the FTC alleged that Disney Worldwide Services and Disney Entertainment Operations — two entities that offer technical support and media content — violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, by failing to properly label certain videos uploaded to YouTube as “made for kids.” The mislabeling also exposed children to “age-appropriate YouTube features,” the FTC said in a statement .
“Our order punishes Disney’s abuse of parental trust and, through a mandated video review program, makes room for the future of online child protection—age verification technology,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in a statement.
Signed into law in 1998, COPPA requires commercial website operators to disclose to parents of children under the age of 13 that they are collecting personal data and obtain prior parental consent.
The videos in question included content from Disney films including “Coco,” “Frozen” and “Toy Story,” as well as music from “The Incredibles.”
A Disney spokesperson told CBS News that the settlement does not involve Disney-owned and operated digital platforms and that it is limited to some content on the company’s YouTube platform.
“Disney has a long tradition of adopting the highest standards of compliance with children’s privacy laws, and we remain committed to investing in the tools necessary to continue to be a leader in this space,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
YouTube requires videos to be labeled as “made for kids” if children are the primary audience for the video or if the content reflects “the intent to target children,” according to the Alphabet-owned platform. YouTube also says on its website that failing to properly label videos could result in “legal consequences under COPPA and other laws.”
YouTube began requiring video uploaders to add a “Made for Kids” label after it reached a similar settlement in 2019 with the FTC for COPPA violations.
Disney’s settlement with the FTC also calls for the company to create a program to review whether videos posted to YouTube should be labeled as made for children, the agency said.
