What is the COPPA Rule?- Protecting Children’s Digital Privacy

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires websites to clearly explain how they handle data. This helps parents manage their children’s information. The law also sets strong standards for keeping this data secure. Along with mobile applications and third-party sites, websites should comply with COPPA, which is enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission. The ongoing digital risks necessitate the use of COPPA in the protection of child privacy using emerging technologies to enhance compliance and security.

What is the history of COPPA?

COPPA was first approved by Congress in 1998 and implemented in April 2000. The US enacted COPPA to help keep children safe online and protect their privacy on the internet. The fast-growing internet websites that catered to children at that moment raised worries about the unauthorized use and collection of personal information without consent. The legislation became the solution to resolve the identified privacy and safety problems.

What is the Main Goal Of COPPA?

The main goal of COPPA is to protect children’s privacy online. It gives parents the right to decide what information websites and online services can collect from users who are under 13 years old. Website operators must get clear permission from parents before they can collect any personal information from their children. Under this law, children obtain protection against exploitation, and their parents maintain knowledge about their activities.

Different platforms gain access to information, which they use to deliver advertisements and observe user behavior patterns. The childern’s data remains prone to improper misuse when there are no firm legislative controls. The COPPA legislation establishes secure virtual environments specifically for children, while maintaining parental knowledge about their children’s online activities.​

Who Must Follow the COPPA Rule?

The COPPA Rule applies to any website, mobile app, or online service made for children under 13 or that knowingly collects their personal information. Social networks, along with gaming networks and educational applications, are all included in the scope of the COPPA Rule. If a service collects personal information from children and targets them directly, it must follow the rules of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Such data-collection rules extend their coverage to advertising platforms and plugins that track information from children using these platforms.

COPPA Compliance Guidelines for Businesses

Businesses must set up clear procedures to verify age and get parental consent. They should have systems in place to protect data and respond to parental requests.

• Age Verification Mechanisms: Businesses must employ age verification mechanisms under COPPA to validate users’ ages through self-reporting, email confirmation, or third-party verification tools to confirm they are not under 13 years old.
• Obtaining Verifiable Parental Consent: To collect parental consent, require parents to submit a form and verify their credit card. Also, use video conferencing to confirm that parents agree before gathering any data from their children.
• Data Minimization and Security: Minimize the collection of personal information to only the necessary data. Offering complete security and data protection for children by facilitating encryption technology.
• The Parental Requests Response: Learn to have laid out definite mechanisms detailing how parents have access to the information of their child and on how to respond promptly to any requests that they make.

COPPA Rule Exceptions to Know

COPPA includes stringent rules regarding data collection from children under 13, but some exceptions are permitted. Such as: 

• General Audience Websites: General audience websites remain exempt from COPPA when neither targeting children nor seeking personal data from them.
• Educational Websites: It qualifies for exemption if they neither collect personal data from visitors nor use the data they collect internally.
• First-Party Data Collection: When parents or guardians explicitly grant permission to collect data during user account creation events, the COPPA may potentially lose its applicability.
• Internal Operations: Data collection through internal operations, including technical support and security, typically escapes COPPA regulations because it does not support marketing or advertising activities.

What Are Some of the Recent Cases of COPPA Violations and Enforcements?

In the recent past, many big tech and gaming giants have faced penalties for non-compliance with COPPA: 

• YouTube/Google (2019): Paid a fine of 170 million dollars because it followed the viewing habits of children to target them with ads without the approval of parents.
• TikTok/Musical.ly (2019): A fine of 5.7 million dollars was imposed on the company due to the illegal collection of personal data of minors under the age of 13 without the necessary consent.
• Epic Games (2022): Ordered to pay a fine of 275 million dollars as a settlement for breaking the COPPA and FTC Act, and a default voice and text chat system in Fortnite put kids in danger.

Results of Non-Compliance with COPPA Guidance

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can impose financial sanctions on the business, require them to modify their business practices, and order them to remove fraudulent data from their systems. The Lack of parental consent, combined with vague privacy policies and targeted advertising to minors, is the primary indicator of violation of children’s privacy by online service providers.