Children’s Privacy on the Line as NM Attorney General Sues App Creator for COPPA Violation

Last week, New Mexico’s Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the creators and online advertisers of Fun Kid Racing, an app where children race virtual cars using animal cartoon characters. The app, created by Tiny Lab Productions, has been downloaded by millions of users, a huge majority of whom are children.

New Mexico’s attorney general, Hector Balderas, filed suit against app maker, Tiny Lab Productions, including Google, Twitter, and three more online ad companies of a COPPA violation, by allowing hackers, predators, or online marketers access to personal data of more than 13 million children, and by misleading consumers by including the application in the family section of the app store.

A New York Times article also reveals that a number of companies now track consumers via phones to build “behavioral profiles” to create tailored ads, like AdMob and MoPub. Researchers have observed that app developers are able to find a loophole to track users, by indicating that children are not the primary target for their apps. Recent research suggests that app developers may be motivated to mislabel apps as family-oriented rather than child-oriented, since such mischaracterization removes COPPA’s protective mantle and allows them to track users for targeted ads.

In response to the threat of online data collection that affects millions of children, both Apple and Google have introduced children- and family-oriented app sections on their stores, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Both companies expressly prohibit tracking if an app is to be included in such section as part of their agreement with app developers. However, perhaps stronger measures are needed to protect children's safety.

Check out the New York Times article for more information.

20 Years Young: The History and Maturing of COPPA in a Privacy-Conscious Age

1998: A Concern for Children’s Privacy Was Born From the moment home computers had the capacity to connect to the Internet, children had the ability to use these technologies to access online websites and services. In the 1990s, concerns about children’s privacy and safety online arose amid fears of marketing practices around selling children’s personal information and exposing children’s information to predators. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), founded in 1974, has always been on the forefront of safeguarding children’s privacy. CARU is the self-regulatory arm of the children’s advertising industry, tasked with promoting truth in children’s advertising by reviewing and evaluating child-directed ads in all media to ensure they are truthful, accurate and appropriate. CARU also monitors online privacy practices as they affect children. Before there was any legislation on the matter, CARU monitored a burgeoning Internet and observed how children’s privacy and sa...

After Review, CARU Finds Snapchat Compliant with COPPA

In a recent decision, CARU found Snap Inc.’s (Snap) Snapchat app to be compliant with both the CARU Guidelines and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). “The company goes beyond minimal procedures to prevent under-age use” CARU stated. CARU determined that Snapchat is an app directed to a general audience, not intended for use by children. In reaching this conclusion, CARU considered that Snap’s Terms of Service clearly prohibit users under 13 years of age and makes no effort to market the app to children or provide them with an appealing user experience. With that understanding, Snapchat is permitted under the Guidelines and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) to age-gate and block children under 13 from using its services, which it does. CARU then examined whether Snapchat does so effectively. CARU observed that Snapchat utilizes age-gates and many safeguards to ensure that if children manage to breach the existing age-...

Kids Internet Design and Safety Act Seeks to Protect Children from Harmful Online Content

United States Senators, Mr. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut and Mr. Edward Markey from Massachusetts, introduced a new bill referred to as the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act (the “KIDS Act”). One of the Senator’s introducing the KIDS Act, Mr. Edward Markey, was the co-author of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). The KIDS Act seeks to include noteworthy advertising rules and create new protections for children online, specifically for online users under the age of 16. The proposed advertising rules within the KIDS Act are to ban websites from: (1) exposing young online users to advertisements “with embedded interactive elements”; (2) recommending any content involving alcohol, nicotine, or tobacco to young online users; and (3) recommending content that includes influencer marketing, like unboxing videos, or host-selling to young online users. Additionally, the KIDS Act seeks to prohibit certain online features to protect children, like prohibiting...

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