LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Company has reached an agreement to pay $10 million over claims it violated federal laws related to child privacy.
It comes after a large investigation into the matter of Disney not properly categorizing content on YouTube. This led to the illegal tracking of children for the purposes of advertising
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The transaction was confirmed by the United States Department of Justice as it involved Disney Services and Entertainment Operations.
The Core Allegations
Disney supposedly did not use these categories, but both parties agree that
YouTube’s system considered children to be adults and collected their personal data. The kids received tailor-made advertisements, a definite no-no in federal law when it comes to that age bracket.
A Pandemic-Driven Surge
The DOJ’s complaint emphasized that many of these videos were upload and viewed. As schools closed, viewership for Disney clips from franchises like Frozen, Toy Story, and The Incredibles skyrocketed.
Court filings suggest Disney was aware of the misclassification as early as June 2020. YouTube reportedly notified the company about manually changing the labels on more than 300 of Disney’s videos.
Mandatory Reforms
Beyond the financial penalty, Disney has agreed to a court-ordered compliance program. The company must now implement a rigorous system to ensure all future content is correctly categorizing.
