"Collection of Children's Personal Information Like General Content"
"Parental Consent Required Before Collecting Data from Children Under 13"
Disney, the media and content giant, which has been under investigation for allegedly collecting children's personal information without consent and using it for targeted advertising, has agreed to pay a fine of 10 million dollars (14.4 billion won).
The U.S. Department of Justice officially announced the settlement on the 30th (local time). Brett Shumate, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, stated that it is the Department of Justice's firm policy to ensure that parents have a say in how their children's information is collected and used.
Reuters reported that it attempted to contact Disney for comment, but was unable to reach the company immediately. The case was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which announced in September of this year that it had reached a settlement with Disney to close the matter, with the Department of Justice handling the follow-up procedures.
The amount of the settlement is the same as that announced by the FTC in September. The FTC investigated Disney for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal information from children who watched Disney videos on YouTube without notifying or obtaining consent from their parents.
Since 2019, under a COPPA compliance agreement with the FTC, YouTube has required content creators to designate videos uploaded to the platform as either “Made for Kids (MFK)” or “Not Made for Kids (NMFK).” However, Disney reportedly did not comply with these requirements properly.
Videos classified as “Made for Kids (MFK)” are subject to restrictions, such as limitations on collecting personal information from child users, personalized advertising, and posting comments.
The FTC pointed out that Disney uploaded numerous child-targeted videos to Disney channels marked as “Not Made for Kids (NMFK)” on YouTube, resulting in these videos being classified as not for children and allowing the collection of children's personal information as with general content.
The FTC stated, “Content and music related to animations such as 'The Incredibles,' 'Coco,' 'Toy Story,' 'Frozen,' and 'Mickey Mouse' were included.” The FTC required Disney to pay a 10 million dollar fine and to comply with COPPA regulations going forward, including obtaining parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.
At the time of the FTC settlement announcement, a Disney spokesperson stated, “This settlement does not concern platforms owned and operated by Disney, but rather relates to the posting of certain content on the YouTube platform,” adding, “Disney has a long tradition of maintaining the highest standards for compliance with children's privacy laws.”
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