Disney to pay $10 million fine in FTC case for mislabeling videos on its YouTube channels
Disney failed to properly label some videos that it uploaded to YouTube as “Made for Kids,” which resulted in the collection of personal data from kids under 13 and the use of that data for targeted advertising to children, according to a news release issued by the FTC on Tuesday, Sept. Disney gets revenue from ads it places on its videos and from YouTube, which pays Disney for ads it inserts on Disney videos, the FTC said. The mislabeling also exposed kids to age-inappropriate YouTube features like autoplay to videos not “Made for Kids,” the agency said.After being told by YouTube in mid-2020 that YouTube had changed designations on more than 300 Disney videos from “Not Made for Kids” (NMFK) to “Made for Kids” (MFK), Disney “continued to fail to properly designate individual videos,” the FTC said.YouTube channels where videos were initially improperly designated included the Disney channel, the Disney Descendants channel, the Disney Family channel, the Disney Games channel, the Disney Junior channel, the Disney Music channel, the Disney XD channel, the Mickey Mouse channel, the Pixar Cars channel, the Radio Disney channel, and the Nat Geo Kids channel, according to the complaint filed Sept.YouTube began requiring content creators to designate videos it uploads as NMFK or MFK to comply with COPPA as part of a 2019 settlement with the FTC over its own rule violations. YouTube also paid a $170 million fine as part of the settlement. “Anytime the FTC takes an action on behalf of kids against companies that violate the law, that is a good thing,” said Daniel Weiss, chief advocacy officer with Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization that has proposed making COPPA stronger to bolster safeguards for children online.
