Disney Pays $10 Million FTC Fine for YouTube Children's Data Violation

Disney has agreed to pay a $10 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after being found in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for failing to properly label some of its YouTube videos as "Made for Kids," which led to unauthorized data collection and targeted advertising directed at children under 13. The FTC complaint highlighted that Disney was notified by YouTube in 2020 about around 300 misclassified videos but failed to fully correct the issue, continuing to use channel-level designations rather than marking videos individually. As part of the settlement, Disney will implement a robust "Audience Designation" program to ensure correct video categorization and compliance going forward. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson condemned Disney's actions as an abuse of parental trust and emphasized the settlement paves the way for the future use of age assurance technology to better protect children online. Disney stated that the settlement pertains only to distribution on YouTube and reaffirmed its commitment to children's privacy and investing in compliance tools. This case marks the first time a YouTube content provider has settled such a children’s privacy violation since YouTube and Google’s own 2019 settlement, underscoring ongoing challenges in enforcing privacy laws in the digital era.