COPPA Compliance Overview

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a U.S. federal law that protects the personal information of children under the age of 13. It covers websites, apps, and online services collecting data about children, laying out clear expectations for transparency, parental consent, and responsible handling of children’s information.

Why It Matters
COPPA is an important part of protecting children’s privacy in digital environments. Organizations that flout some of these requirements could end up on the receiving end of federal enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with fines, remediation efforts, and reputational damage. For any service provider of children or families, good privacy and consent control tools play a large part.

Core Focus Areas
COPPA targets acquiring verifiable parental consent prior to data collection, providing clear and accessible privacy notices, and applying reasonable security measures to protect children’s information. It also curbs the use or sharing of children’s data, and companies must answer parental access or deletion requests in an appropriate way.

Next Steps
Groups that are reviewing their COPPA posture as they think about how they should move forward often will refine data collection practices, streamline the parental consent workflow, and strengthen the privacy and security controls over children’s data.