COPPA
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The FTC wants to strengthen COPPA to make it harder for companies to monetize kids’ data
The FTC is proposing changes to the COPPA to make it harder for tech companies to track and monetize children’s data.
Meta sues FTC to block new restrictions on monetizing kids’ data
Meta is striking back against recently-imposed FTC sanctions that block the company from monetizing the data of children. This is the second attempt by Meta to stop these sanctions.
Amazon will pay $25 million to settle FTC lawsuit over Alexa privacy for kids
Amazon has agreed to pay $25 million to settle FTC claims it violated kids' privacy rights with Alexa.
Senators reintroduce COPPA 2.0 bill to tighten child safety online
Senators have reintroduced a sequel to COPPA meant to protect kids' online privacy.
Epic Games will pay $520 million to settle FTC's 'Fortnite' case
Epic will pay $275 million to settle claims it violated children’s privacy rules in 'Fortnite.' It will also pay $245 million to refund players over billing practices as part of a record-breaking settlement.
Democratic lawmakers ask Facebook to detail its Instagram for kids project
A group of four Democratic lawmakers says they're concerned with the company's plan to build an Instagram for users under the age of 13.
A third of TikTok’s US users may be 14 years old or younger
As much as a third of TikTok’s 49 million users in the US may be 14 years old or younger.
New Mexico AG sues Google over alleged child privacy violations (updated)
Google is being sued by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Balderas alleges that Google is violating COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) and New Mexico's Unfair Practices Act by collecting data on students who use Chromebooks through the G Suite for Education platform.
The latest Chrome OS education devices will get updates for eight years (updated)
To help schools get more out of their limited resources, Google is extending the length of time it plans to support new Chrome OS education devices with security and platform updates. Starting this year, the latest education devices from Lenovo and Acer will get automatic updates until June 2028, and it seems that other new devices could receive similar support as well. Before today, Google guaranteed to support most devices with at least six years of automatic updates. To pay for the additional support, the company is increasing the price of its Chrome Education Upgrade, a one-time license school boards can purchase to get additional support from Google, from $30 per device to $38 per device. However, all new devices will get eight years of support, whether a school buys the Chrome Education Upgrade or not.
Bipartisan bill would give parents more power to protect their kids online
House lawmakers have introduced new legislation that attempts to modernize the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Dubbed the "Preventing Real Online Threats Endangering Children Today," or PROTECT Kids act for short, Representatives Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Bobby Rush (D-IL) sponsored the bipartisan bill.
Instagram now asks new users for their age
Instagram is getting more serious about curbing underage use. As of December 4th, the social network will start asking for your date of birth when you sign up.
Google will pay $170 million to settle YouTube child privacy accusations
Google will pay $170 million to settle charges from the Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General that YouTube illegally collected data from kids who watch the video-streaming service. The company will shell out $34 million to New York and $136 million to the FTC, in what the agency says is the largest amount it's ever obtained in a Children's Online Privacy Protection Act case since the law took effect in 1998.
Google to settle YouTube child privacy violations for up to $200 million
Google will allegedly pay between $150 and $200 million to end the FTC investigation into whether YouTube violated a children's privacy law, Politico reported this afternoon. The FTC reportedly voted along party lines (3-2) to approve the settlement, which will now be reviewed by the Justice Department.
Senators question whether Facebook is doing enough to protect kids’ privacy
Senators are questioning Facebook again. This time their concerns are related to a technical error that let thousands of kids join group chats with unauthorized users, The Verge reports. Senators Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg today, asking whether Facebook has done enough to protect children's online safety.
FTC reportedly investigating YouTube over children's privacy
YouTube may have a particularly strong incentive to change how it handles kids' videos -- it appears to be under government scrutiny for its behavior. Sources for both the New York Times and Washington Post assert that the FTC is in the "late stages" of an investigation into possible violations of kids' privacy. Advocacy groups have reportedly maintained that YouTube is violating COPPA by collecting data for children under the age of 13, including through its dedicated Kids app. The complaints are said to reach as far back as 2015.
App stores pull dating apps after FTC warning about underage users
You'd think that dating app developers would be sure to keep children from signing up, but that's not always the case. Apple and Google have removed three Wildec dating apps (FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U) from their respective stores after the FTC found that the titles were allowing sign-ups from kids under 13, violating COPPA and the FTC Act in the process. The developer was aware it had underage users, the FTC said, and there were "several" people who'd faced criminal charges for contacting kids through these apps.
Senate bill proposes stricter privacy controls for children
Some politicians don't believe the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act does enough to protect kids in the modern era, and they're hoping to update it accordingly. Senators Ed Markey and Josh Hawley have introduced a bill that would amend COPPA with stricter controls on kids' data. It would ban ads targeted at kids, and would require an "Eraser Button" that would let kids and parents wipe data. The measure would still ban the collection of personal data for kids under 13 without their parents' consent, but it would also ban collecting data from the 13- to 15-year-old crowd without the user's permission.
FTC fines TikTok $5.7 million over child privacy violations
The creators of TikTok are facing US penalties for allegedly doing too little to respect kids' privacy. The Federal Trade Commission has fined TikTok (aka Musical.ly) $5.7 million as part of a settlement over reported COPPA violations in its lip-syncing video app. Regulators said that TikTok not only collected personal information from under-13 users without their parents' consent, but made those profiles public and, until October 2016, let people share their location with nearby friends. The developers knew a "significant percentage" of users were under 13 but didn't change their ways even after "thousands of complaints," the FTC said.
Oath to pay $5 million settlement over children's online privacy
Oath (Engadget's parent brand) is paying a record-breaking settlement for its approach to children's privacy. The Verizon-owned media company has agreed to pay $4.95 million, the largest ever settlement in a case like this, after New York state found that it violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by running targeted ads on sites meant primarily for kids under 13 years old, such as Roblox.com. Up until November 2017, Oath's systems (and AOL's before that) reportedly ignored information warning that sites were subject to COPPA rules and sent ads that collected potentially sensitive data through the use of cookies and location info.
Study finds over 3,300 Android apps improperly tracking kids
There's little doubt that mobile apps sometimes overstep their bounds by collecting more data from kids than the law allows. But how often does that happen? It might be more than you think. Researchers using an automated testing process have discovered that 3,337 family- and child-oriented Android apps on Google Play were improperly collecting kids' data, potentially putting them in violation of the US' COPPA law (which limits data collection for kids under 13). Only a small number were particularly glaring violations, but many apps exhibited behavior that could easily be seen as questionable.
