Facebook Agrees to Place Age-Gating Mechanism in Mobile App to Prevent Children from Falsifying Age

After CARU recommended that Facebook, Inc. modify its mobile app to improve its mechanism to prevent underage users from circumventing the age screen, Facebook complied and made the necessary changes. Historically websites have used session cookies to prevent children from going back and changing their age, but until CARU examined its mobile app, Facebook did not implement a mechanism to prevent children from circumventing the age screen. Previously on the app, when a registrant entered a birthday corresponding to an age younger than 13, a message denied registration. However, the registrant was immediately able to change the originally-entered date of birth and continue attempts until a valid age was chosen that allowed registration.

Although mobile technology is still developing and companies are working hard to adapt traditional privacy principles to this new age, CARU Director, Dona J. Fraser said, “We are pleased that Facebook now becomes the first company working with CARU to implement this requirement in the mobile environment.” Fraser believes it is time for the Federal Trade Commission to reexamine this issue in light of the ever-growing mobile technology environment. CARU will continue to update its Guidelines and work with regulators and industry to ensure that the online environment is safe for children.

For more information, check out the press release about CARU's inquiry with Facebook.

Or check out this article about kids privacy and Facebook in MediaPost.

Advocates believe Kid Influencers Deserve Same Protections as Other Child Stars

Although there are child labor laws in California that are designed to protect child stars from exploitation (The Coogan Act), the same protections don't always apply to child YouTube and Instagram stars, or kid influencers. Kid Influencers accounts are usually run by their parents since platforms like YouTube and Instagram have age limits of 13 years old. One consequence of not owning their accounts is that all profits received go directly to the guardians and, unlike traditional child actors in California, these guardians are not required to set aside some of the profits for the children. Advocates like Paul Petersen, believe the legal protections like those in California should apply to children outside of the state. Petersen has said that because YouTube is in San Bruno, California and they are paying to broadcast children, California law must apply to those child stars. Many guardians of kid influencers feel these regulations are unnecessary and that the guardians are doi...

CARU Speaks at Community Board in Manhattan

CARU staff attorney Andra Dallas gave a presentation to Community Board 1, serving lower Manhattan on Monday, December 7 th . Andra spoke to the Board’s Youth Committee about the importance of teaching children about understanding advertising and safe online practices. District Manager Noah Pfefferblit remarked, “thank you for your informative presentation to our Youth Committee members,” and offered the Board’s assistance if they “can be helpful to the important efforts at the Children's Advertising Review Unit.” Are you interested in having a CARU staff member visit your community board? Contact adallas@caru.bbb.org.

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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