The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced that a federal court entered a stipulated order to resolve a case against Disney, ordering the entertainment company to pay $10 million in penalties to resolve allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
According to a news release, the 16-page complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and cites Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC as defendants. The penalty notes that Disney violated COPPA and its implementing regulations in connection with its YouTube video content.
COPPA prohibits website operators from knowingly collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under the age of 13, unless they provide notice to and obtain consent from those children’s parents.
Prosecutors alleged that Disney improperly failed to designate YouTube video content as being directed toward children. They argued that because of that, Disney and others acting on the company’s behalf targeted advertising toward children on the video platform and unlawfully collected their information.
“The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “The Department will take swift action to root out any unlawful infringement on parents’ rights to protect their children’s privacy.”
In addition to the civil penalty against Disney, the order bars the company from operating on YouTube “in a manner that violates COPPA and requires Disney to create a program that will ensure it properly complies with COPPA on YouTube going forward.”
Disney must establish a program to review each video it publishes on YouTube to determine if it is targeted to children.
Disney’s YouTube channel has more than 6.5 million subscribers. Its main page features dozens of videos that have each generated more than 10 million views.
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