Disney will pay $10M to settle children's privacy lawsuit with FTC

[noumoe]

The Walt Disney Company on Tuesday said it has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a children's privacy lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission related to videos it uploaded on Youtube mostly during the pandemic.

It's the first known case in which a YouTube content provider has settled with the FTC over children's privacy violations since the agency's landmark settlement with YouTube and its parent Google in 2019.

The fine targets Disney for content that wasn't uploaded to its own platforms, likely opening the door to penalties against other content providers that distribute their work on other sites and apps.

The FTC complaint alleges Disney failed to designate certain YouTube videos as being made for children when it added them to the platform. In failing to do so, Disney inadvertently allowed those videos to be targeted with online advertising, which is why the FTC considers the improper designation problematic.

In settling the matter, Disney concedes that it made an administrative error in the way it characterized videos it uploaded to YouTube mostly during the pandemic. In failing to categorize the videos correctly, the FTC claims Disney violated the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The law requires companies to notify users of content directed toward children when data tracking occurs, and requires them to obtain parental consent for such tracking.

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