Disney is facing more than just a $10 million penalty after federal authorities confirmed the company violated children’s privacy laws. Once widely celebrated as the gold standard for family entertainment, Disney’s recent push to inject ideological content into children’s programming—alongside its vocal opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act—has coincided with a string of corporate missteps and public backlash.
Earlier this year, Disney agreed to pay a $10 million settlement, and on Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced that a federal court officially resolved a case between Disney Worldwide Services, Inc., Disney Entertainment Operations LLC, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The court issued a stipulated order addressing the collection of personal information from children under 13 years old.
“The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate in a statement accompanying the DOJ press release. He emphasized that federal authorities will act decisively to “root out any unlawful infringement on parents’ rights to protect their children’s privacy.”
The original complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accused Disney of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) through its YouTube content. Disney allegedly “targeted advertising toward children on YouTube and unlawfully collected children’s information without parental notice and consent.”
The court’s order not only confirmed the $10 million settlement but also prohibits Disney from committing further COPPA violations on YouTube. It requires the company to implement robust compliance measures to ensure children’s privacy is protected moving forward.
As reported at the time of the settlement, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Chris Mufarrige explained on Fox Business Network, “Today’s settlement with Disney is part of the Commission’s broader focus on protecting children online. And what we found today, what we found in the settlement is that Disney violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which Congress passed to ensure that parents, rather than content creators, have control over their children’s data.”
Mufarrige added, “So, as we learned in the investigation, we learned that Disney was actually frequently misdesignating videos, which led to Disney collecting data that they shouldn’t have. And it also led to children watching harmful and, at times, inappropriate videos. Our order in the settlement ensures that parents moving forward can have confidence that their children are safe.”
Lawmakers are also considering broader measures, such as the proposed App Store Accountability Act (ASAA), which would hold companies like Apple and Google fully responsible for verifying the age of users, removing any ambiguity about whether they knowingly allow children under 13 to access inappropriate content.
