The Walt Disney Company will pay $10 million to settle an FTC complaint alleging it enabled the unlawful collection of children’s personal data on YouTube.
Regulators say Disney failed to label some YouTube uploads as “made for kids,” a key COPPA safeguard that stops platforms from collecting data and serving personalized ads to viewers under 13. Because those videos weren’t flagged, the FTC says children watching kid-directed content could have been tracked without parental notice or consent.
Under the proposed order, Disney must:
- Pay a $10M civil penalty.
- Comply with COPPA going forward.
- Stand up a formal review program to ensure videos posted to YouTube are properly designated as “made for kids.”
YouTube has required creators to tag content as kid-directed since its 2019 settlement with the FTC and Google—rules meant to cut off data collection and disable features like comments on children’s videos.
Disney’s response: the issue involves some content distributed on YouTube, not Disney’s own platforms.
“Supporting the well-being and safety of kids and families is at the heart of what we do,” the company said, adding it remains committed to robust children’s-privacy compliance and will strengthen its review process.
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