FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Sept. 2, 2025
Contact:
Ashwin Verghese, Communications Director, [email protected], 717-676-8584
MEDIA ADVISORY
Fairplay FTC Complaint Reverberates in $10 Million Settlement with Disney
Fairplay, the leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in a screen-obsessed culture, today welcomed the Federal Trade Commission’s $10 million enforcement action against The Walt Disney Corporation for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by failing to properly designate certain videos it uploaded to YouTube as being made for children.
In 2019, following a complaint filed by Fairplay and the Center for Digital Democracy, the FTC reached a landmark settlement with Google for illegally collecting children’s data on YouTube in violation of COPPA. The FTC’s Google settlement placed important restrictions on data collection and advertising on videos and channels that are considered child-directed. Today’s settlement with Disney marks the first time the Commission has held a content creator liable for not properly classifying their videos as child-directed, as required by that settlement.
Fairplay Executive Director Josh Golin said: “Today’s enforcement action is an important signal that content creators must follow the rules when it comes to protecting kids’ data, even when those creators are among the biggest and most powerful companies in the world. It also shows that Fairplay’s and the Center for Digital Democracy’s work to ensure that Google follows the law on YouTube is still reverberating today. We commend the Commission for this important settlement, which sends an important message to children’s content creators. We trust that future fines will be commensurate with the seriousness of the offense of violating children’s privacy.”
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About Fairplay
Fairplay is the leading nonprofit committed to helping children thrive in an increasingly commercialized, screen-obsessed culture, and the only organization dedicated to ending marketing to children. Fairplay works to enhance children’s well-being by eliminating the exploitative and harmful business practices of marketers and Big Tech. Learn more at https://fairplayforkids.org.