YouTube videos for children bring Disney data protection punishment
Disney has to pay millions because Mickey Mouse videos were not labeled as "for children". This should force YouTube to carry out age checks.
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In some countries, anyone who places content that is harmful to minors online can get into trouble. In the age of surveillance capitalism, the reverse can also happen. This is currently affecting the Disney Group. It has to pay ten million US dollars in the USA because it posted videos made for children on YouTube without labeling them as "for children".
Since 2019, this labeling has been intended to prevent YouTube from collecting personal data about viewers and then using it for advertising purposes. Such data use is only permitted in the USA for people under the age of 13 if their parents or guardians have been informed in advance and have given their consent. Before 2019, YouTube harvested the data of all viewers; because this violated the standards of the US law COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998), the Google Group had to pay 170 million US dollars at the time. Since then, every newly uploaded YouTube video must be classified as either "for children" or "not for children".
Disney has uploaded some videos and music videos from the Disney series The Incredibles, Coco, Toy Story, Frozen and Mickey Mouse to YouTube as "not for children", according to a complaint filed on the initiative of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The videos are intended to appeal to children in particular. If they access the incorrectly classified videos, YouTube harvests their data and uses it without obtaining the consent of their parents or guardians.
Autoplay and comments
YouTube then also allows user comments under the videos and automatically plays other videos that are also marked as "not for children" after the end of the stream. This can also be content from authors other than Disney that is really not suitable for children. Comments can also be inappropriate.
Videos by heise
In mid-2020, YouTube changed the classification of over 300 Disney videos from "not for children" to "for children" on its own initiative and informed Disney of this, reports the FTC. However, even after this, Disney did not improve its approach to uploading new videos and continued to provide videos for children as "not for children". From the FTC's perspective, this is aggravating. In return for a payment of ten million dollars and the mandatory introduction of a compliance program, the court proceedings are now to be discontinued.
Pressure for age verification
The FTC is using the case to put pressure on YouTube to introduce general age verification. "If YouTube adopts technology that determines the age, age range, or age category of all YouTube users, (...) Disney may rely on this signal", writes the FTC, "This forward-looking age verification provision (in the court settlement) builds on the increasing use of age verification technology to protect children online – and incentivizes its accelerated adoption."
The case is called USA v. Disney Worldwide Services et Disney Entertainment Operations and is pending in the U.S. District Court for Central California under case number 2:25-cv-08223.
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