According to Fast Company, Disney has agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to resolve allegations it violated child privacy laws on YouTube. The federal court order involves Disney Worldwide Services Inc and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC. It specifically bars Disney from operating on YouTube in any way that violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA. The order also requires Disney to create and maintain a new program to ensure future compliance with the law on the platform. COPPA mandates that services directed at kids under 13 must notify parents and obtain verifiable consent before collecting personal information.
Disney’s YouTube Problem
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about some obscure data leak. COPPA is a big deal, and the Federal Trade Commission doesn’t mess around with it. The law is crystal clear. If you’re making content for children under 13, you can’t collect their data—things like persistent identifiers for behavioral advertising—without jumping through serious hoops to get a parent’s okay. Disney, with its massive library of kid-focused channels on YouTube, was allegedly treating that data like any other audience’s. And that’s a major no-no. So, what happens now? The $10 million is a slap on the wrist, sure. But the mandated compliance program is the real story. It means Disney’s internal legal and operations teams will have to constantly audit how its YouTube presence works, probably leading to big changes in how those channels are monetized and tracked.
The Broader COPPA Crackdown
This settlement feels like part of a longer, ongoing saga. Remember the record $170 million fine against Google and YouTube itself back in 2019 over COPPA? That case set the precedent that channel owners, not just the platform, bear responsibility. Since then, the FTC has been making examples out of big players to send a message to everyone else. Basically, if Disney can’t get this right, who can? The message is: “Figure it out.” For any company with a footprint on YouTube, this is a wake-up call. You have to definitively classify your content as either “for kids” or not, and each choice comes with massive implications for your advertising revenue and data capabilities. Get it wrong, and you’re next in line for a multi-million dollar fine and a federal compliance order.
