Disney Is Paying Nearly Rs 90,00,00,000 For Failing To Protect Children’s Online Privacy: All Details

The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay $10 million (around Rs 89.87 crore) to settle allegations that it violated US children’s online privacy laws. The case relates to Disney’s content on YouTube, where some videos meant for children were allegedly not labelled correctly, allowing targeted ads to be shown to kids.According to The BBC report, the settlement was reached with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and was officially confirmed this week by the US Department of Justice. Regulators claimed Disney failed to clearly mark certain YouTube videos as 'made for children', which led to children’s personal data being collected without proper parental notice or consent.As per the FTC, this mistake resulted in targeted advertising being served

on child-focused content. Under US law, companies are not allowed to collect personal data from children or show them targeted ads unless parents are clearly informed and give permission.Disney agreed to the settlement back in September, and the latest court order has now made it official. Apart from paying the fine, the company has also committed to setting up a proper internal programme to ensure it follows children’s data protection rules going forward."The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children's information is collected and used," Brett Shumate, an assistant attorney general in the justice department's civil division, was quoted as saying.A Disney spokesperson confirmed that the company has accepted the settlement terms that were announced earlier. Disney also clarified that the case is limited only to some of its content distributed on YouTube and does not involve Disney’s own websites or apps, the BBC reported.The agreement involves Disney Worldwide Services Inc and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC. Regulators pointed out that since 2020, Disney has uploaded content across more than 1,250 YouTube channels through various subsidiaries. Many of these videos became extremely popular, especially during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic when children were spending more time online.The issue links back to a 2019 settlement between the FTC and Google, after which YouTube made it mandatory for creators to label content meant for kids. This rule was introduced to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which has been in place since 1998.COPPA requires content creators to inform parents and get consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13. Regulators allege that Disney failed to follow these rules, even after being warned as early as June 2020. YouTube reportedly had to manually change labels on hundreds of Disney videos, including content linked to popular animated franchises.