The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday that a federal court has entered a stipulated order to settle a case against Disney Worldwide Services and Disney Entertainment Operations.
In a complaint filed in a California district court, the DOJ alleged that Disney failed to appropriately label some of its videos targeting children on YouTube. By not doing so, Disney and its partners were allegedly able to place advertisements targeting children on YouTube and unlawfully collect children’s personal information without notifying parents or obtaining their consent.
The lawsuit claims that this mislabeling violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law, first passed in 1998, prohibits website operators from knowingly collecting personal information from children under 13 unless they first obtain parental consent.
“The Department of Justice is strongly dedicated to ensuring that parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said in a press release. “The department will take prompt action to root out any unlawful infringement on the rights of parents to protect the privacy of their children.”
Disney did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. However, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) first disclosed details of the agreement, a Disney spokesperson told Axios: “Supporting the well-being and safety of children and families is at the heart of our work. This agreement does not include Disney-owned-and-operated digital platforms, but is limited to the distribution of certain of our content on YouTube’s platform.”
According to the DOJ, Disney’s YouTube content has been viewed billions of times in the United States alone. The complaint alleges that improperly labeled videos were spread across multiple Disney-owned YouTube channels, including the Pixar Channel, the Disney+ Channel, and the Disney Animation Studios Channel. The video features popular cartoon characters from films such as The Incredibles, Coco, Frozen and Tangled.
Following a $170 million settlement with the FTC in 2019 over similar COPPA violations, YouTube began requiring creators to specify whether the videos they upload are “made for children” or “not made for children.” Videos labeled as made for kids have certain features disabled to comply with COPPA, including personalized ads, collection of personal information, and comments.
This is the first case in which a content creator has settled with the DOJ following YouTube’s own COPPA settlement.
Beyond the financial penalties, the court order prohibits Disney from violating COPPA on YouTube and requires the company to establish an ongoing content review program to ensure that its videos on the site comply with the law.
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