CDD Filings Digital Youth
Program Areas
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News
CDD joins EPIC and Fairplay in Opposition to Face-Scanning Parental Consent Tool COPP Application, Urging FTC to Require Independent Audit of Yoti Inc’s Proposed Tool
In comments to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC, the Center for Digital Democracy, and Fairplay urged the FTC to center privacy and data security risks as it evaluates Yoti Inc’s proposed face-scanning tool for obtaining verifiable parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).In a supplementary filing CDD urges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to reject the parent-consent method proposed by the applicants Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and EPIC Games’ SuperAwesome division. Prior to any decision, the FTC must first engage in due diligence and investigate the contemporary issues involving the role and use of facial coding technology and its potential impact on children’s privacy. The commission must have a robust understanding of the data flows and insight generation produced by facial coding technologies, including the debate over their role as a key source of “attention” metrics, which are a core advertising measurement modality. Since this proposal is designed to deliver a significant expansion of children’s data collection—given the constellation of brands, advertisers and publishers involved with the applicants and their child-directed market focus—a digital “cautionary” principle on this consent method is especially required here. Moreover, one of the applicants, as well as several key affiliates of the ESRB—EPIC Games, Amazon, and Microsoft—have recently been sanctioned for violating COPPA, and any approval in the absence of a thorough fact-finding here would be premature. -
In comments to the Federal Trade Commission, EPIC, the Center for Digital Democracy, and Fairplay urged the FTC to center privacy and data security risks as it evaluates Yoti Inc’s proposed face-scanning tool for obtaining verifiable parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).In a supplementary filing CDD urges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to reject the parent-consent method proposed by the applicants Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and EPIC Games’ SuperAwesome division. Prior to any decision, the FTC must first engage in due diligence and investigate the contemporary issues involving the role and use of facial coding technology and its potential impact on children’s privacy. The commission must have a robust understanding of the data flows and insight generation produced by facial coding technologies, including the debate over their role as a key source of “attention” metrics, which are a core advertising measurement modality. Since this proposal is designed to deliver a significant expansion of children’s data collection—given the constellation of brands, advertisers and publishers involved with the applicants and their child-directed market focus—a digital “cautionary” principle on this consent method is especially required here. Moreover, one of the applicants, as well as several key affiliates of the ESRB—EPIC Games, Amazon, and Microsoft—have recently been sanctioned for violating COPPA, and any approval in the absence of a thorough fact-finding here would be premature.
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Coalition of child advocacy, health, safety, privacy and consumer organization document how data-driven marketing undermines privacy and welfare of young peopleChildren and teenagers experience widespread commercial surveillance practices to collect data used to target them with marketing. Targeted and personalized advertising remains the dominant business model for digital media, with the marketing and advertising industry identifying children and teens as a prime target. Minors are relentlessly pursued while, simultaneously, they are spending more time online than ever before. Children’s lives are filled with surveillance, involving the collection of vast amounts of personal data of online users. This surveillance, informed by behavior science and maximized by evolving technologies, allows platforms and marketers to profile and manipulate children.The prevalence of surveillance advertising and targeted marketing aimed at minors is unfair in violation of Section 5. Specifically, data-driven marketing and targeted advertising causes substantial harm to children and teens by:violating their privacy;manipulating them into being interested in harmful products;undermining their autonomyperpetuating discrimination and bias;Additionally, the design choices tech companies use to optimize engagement and data collection in order to target marketing to minors further harm children and teens. These harms include undermining their physical and mental wellbeing and increasing the risk of problematic internet risk. These harms cannot reasonably be avoided by minors or their families, and there are no countervailing benefits to consumers or competition that outweigh these harms.Surveillance advertising is also deceptive to children, as defined by the Federal Trade Commission. The representations made about surveillance advertising by adtech companies, social media companies, apps, and games are likely to mislead minors and their parents and guardians. These misrepresentations and omissions are material. Many companies also mislead minors and their guardians by omission because they fail to disclose important information about their practices. These practices impact the choices of minors and their families every day as they use websites, apps, and services without an understanding of the complex system of data collection, retention, and sharing that is used to influence them online. We therefore urge the Commission to promulgate a rule that prohibits targeted marketing to children and teenagers.Groups filing the comment included: The Center for Digital Democracy, Fairplay, and #HalfTheStory, American Academy of Pediatrics, Becca Schmill Foundation, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Federation of California, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action, Enough is Enough, LookUp.live, Lynn’s Warriors, National Eating Disorders Association, Parents Television and Media Council, ParentsTogether, Peace Educators Allied for Children Everywhere (P.E.A.C.E.), Public Citizen and UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Health FairPlay's executive director Josh Golin said: "Big Tech's commercial surveillance business model undermines young people's wellbeing and development. It causes kids and teens to spend excessive time online, and exposes them to harmful content and advertising targeted to their vulnerabilities. The FTC must adopt a series of safeguards to allow vulnerable youth to play, learn, and socialize online without being manipulated or harmed. Most importantly, the Commission should prohibit data-driven advertising and marketing to children and teens, and make clear that Silicon Valley profits cannot come at the expense of young people's wellbeing.”CDD's Jeff Chester underscored this saying: "Children and teens are key commercial targets of today’s data-driven surveillance complex. Their lives are tethered to a far-reaching system that is specifically designed to influence how they spend their time and money online, and uses artificial intelligence, virtual reality, geo-tracking, neuromarketing and more to do so. In addition to the loss of privacy, surveillance marketing threatens their well-being, health and safety. It’s time for the Federal Trade Commission to enact safeguards that protect young people. "[full filing attached]cdd_fairplay_anprmcomments.pdf
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unfair_design_practices_petition_for_rulemaking_final_combined_filing.pdfJeff Chester
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At every turn, young people face tricks and traps to keep them online for hours and sharing sensitive data. Contact:David Monahan, Fairplay: david@fairplayforkids.orgJeff Chester, Center for Digital Democracy: jeff@democraticmedia.orgAdvocates to FTC: Write rules to protect kids from harmful manipulative design onlineAt every turn, young people face tricks and traps to keep them online for hoursand sharing sensitive data.BOSTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC – November 17, 2022 – A coalition of leading health and privacy advocates filed a petition today asking the Federal Trade Commission to promulgate a rule prohibiting online platforms from using unfair design features to manipulate children and teens into spending excessive time online. Twenty-one groups, led by Fairplay and the Center for Digital Democracy, said in their petition: “When minors go online, they are bombarded by widespread design features that have been carefully crafted and refined for the purpose of maximizing the time users spend online and activities users engage in.” They urged the FTC to establish rules of the road to establish when these practices cross the line into unlawful unfairness.The advocates’ petition details how the vast majority of apps, games, and services popular among minors generate revenue primarily via advertising, and many employ sophisticated techniques to cultivate lucrative long term relationships between minors and their brands. As a result, platforms use techniques like autoplay, endless scroll, and strategically timed advertisements to keep kids and teens online as much as possible– which is not in their best interests.The petition also details how manipulative design features on platforms like TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat undermine young people’s wellbeing. Excessive time online displaces sleep and physical activity, harming minors’ physical and mental health, growth, and academic performance. Features designed to maximize engagement also expose minors to potential predators and online bullies and age-inappropriate content, harm minors’ self-esteem, and aggravate risks of disordered eating and suicidality. The manipulative tactics also undermine children’s and teens’ privacy by encouraging the disclosure of massive amounts of sensitive user data.The advocates’ petition comes just months after California passed its Age Appropriate Design Code, a law requiring digital platforms to act in the best interests of children, and as momentum grows in Congress for the Kids and Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act.The petition was drafted by the Communications and Technology Law Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. Haley Hinkle, Policy Counsel, Fairplay:“The manipulative tactics described in this Petition that are deployed by social media platforms and apps popular with kids and teens are not only harmful to young people’s development– they’re unlawful. The FTC should exercise its authority to prohibit these unfair practices and send Big Tech a message that manipulating minors into handing over their time and data is not acceptable.”Katharina Kopp, Deputy Director, Center for Digital Democracy:“The hyper-personalized, data-driven advertising business model has hijacked our children’s lives. The design features of social media and games have been purposefully engineered to keep young people online longer and satisfy advertisers. It’s time for the FTC to put an end to these unfair and harmful practices. They should adopt safeguards that ensure platforms and publishers design their online content so that it places the well-being of young people ahead of the interests of marketers.”Jenny Radesky, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Michigan and Chair-elect, American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media:“As a pediatrician, helping parents and teens navigate the increasingly complex digital landscape in a healthy way has become a core aspect of my work. If the digital environment is designed in a way that supports children’s healthy relationships with media, then it will be much easier for families to create boundaries that support children’s sleep, friendships, and safe exploration. However, this petition highlights how many platforms and games are designed in ways that actually do the opposite: they encourage prolonged time on devices, more social comparisons, and more monetization of attention. Kids and teens are telling us that these types of designs actually make their experiences with platforms and apps worse, not better. So we are asking federal regulators to help put safeguards in place to protect against the manipulation of children’s behavior and to instead prioritize their developmental needs.”Professor Laura Moy, Director, Communications & Technology Law Clinic at Georgetown Law, and counsel for Center for Digital Democracy and Fairplay:“As any parent or guardian can attest, games and social media apps keep driving kids and teens to spend more and more time online, in a way that neither minors nor their guardians can reasonably prevent. This is neither accidental nor innocuous—it's engineered and it's deeply harmful. The FTC must step in and set some boundaries to protect kids and teens. The FTC should clarify that the most harmful and widespread design features that manipulate users into maximizing time online, such as those employed widely by social media services and popular games, are unlawful when used on minors.” Groups signing on to the petition include: Center for Digital Democracy; Fairplay; Accountable Tech; American Academy of Pediatrics; Becca Schmill Foundation, Inc.; Berkeley Media Studies Group; C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth; Center for Humane Technology; Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development; Eating Disorders Coalition; Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC); LookUp.live; Lynn's Warriors; Network for Public Education; Parent Coalition for Student Privacy; ParentsTogether Action; Protect Young Eyes; Public Citizen; Together for Girls; U.S. Public Interest Research Group; and UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health.###ftc_engagement_petition_pr1.pdf, unfair_design_practices_petition_for_rulemaking_final_combined_filing.pdf
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CDD and Advocates Call on the FTC to Begin Rulemaking to Prohibit Surveillance AdvertisingJanuary 26, 2022Federal Trade CommissionOffice of the Secretary600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, DC 20580Re: Comment on Petition for Rulemaking by Accountable Tech, FTC-2021-0070 INTRODUCTIONCenter for Digital Democracy, Common Sense, Fairplay, Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and ParentsTogether strongly support the Petition for Rulemaking to Prohibit Surveillance Advertising filed by Accountable Tech1. We agree that this action is necessary to stop the exploitation of children and teens2.Surveillance advertising, also known as behavioral or targeted advertising, has become the standard business model for a wide array of online platforms with companies utilizing this practice to micro-target all consumers, including children and teens. Surveillance advertising involves the collection of vast amounts of personal data of online users, their demographics, behaviors, preferences, characteristics, and the production of inferences. To create detailed advertising profiles from this data, users are tracked across websites and devices; they are classified, sorted, and even discriminated against via targeting and exclusion; and ultimately are left vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation.Young people are especially susceptible to the risks posed by surveillance advertising, which is why leading public health advocates like the American Academy of Pediatrics have called for a ban on surveillance advertising to children under 18 years old3. Children’s and teens’ online experiences are shaped by the affordances of surveillance marketing, which entrap them in a complex system purposefully designed to manipulate their behaviors and emotions, while leveraging their data in the process. Young people are a significant audience for the real-time ad profiling and targeting apparatus operated through programmatic platforms and technologies, which poses fundamental risks to their privacy, safety and well-being. Surveillance advertising is harmful to young people in several ways. First, young people are already more susceptible to advertising’s negative effects and surveillance advertising allows marketers to manipulate children and teens even more effectively. Second, surveillance advertising allows advertisers to target children’s individual vulnerabilities. Third, surveillance advertising can exacerbate inequities by allowing advertisers to target (or abstain from targeting) marginalized communities. Fourth, behavioral advertising is the driving force behind a complex system of data collection and surveillance that tracks all of children’s online activity, undermining young people’s privacy and wellbeing. Finally, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has failed to effectively protect children under thirteen from surveillance advertising and a more expansive prohibition is needed to protect the youngest and most vulnerable users online.For these reasons, we urge the Commission to protect children and teens by prohibiting surveillance advertising.......Please read the full petition, see PDF below......____________________________________________186 Fed. Reg. 73206 (Dec. 27, 2021).2Pet’n for Rulemaking at 32-33.3Jenny Radesky, Yolanda (Linda) Reid Chassiakos, Nusheen Ameenuddin, Dipesh Navsaria, Council on Communications and Media; Digital Advertising to Children. Pediatrics July 2020; 146 (1): e20201681. 10.1542/peds.2020-1681.childrens_coalition_survadv_1-26-22.pdf
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Press Release
Advocates say Google Play continues to disregard children’s privacy law and urge FTC to act
Contact: Jeff Chester, CDD jeff@democraticmedia.org (link sends e-mail); 202-494-7100David Monahan, CCFC, david@commercialfreechildhood.org (link sends e-mail)Advocates say Google Play continues to disregard children’s privacy law and urge FTC to act BOSTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC — March 31, 2021—Today, advocacy groups Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Google’s promotion of apps which violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In December 2018, CCFC and CDD led a coalition of 22 consumer and health advocacy groups in asking the FTC to investigate these same practices. Since then Google has made changes to the Play Store, but the advocates say these changes fail to address the core problem: Google is certifying as safe and appropriate for children apps that violate COPPA and put children at risk. Recent studies found that a significant number of apps in Google Play violate COPPA by collecting and sharing children’s personal information without getting parental consent. For instance, a JAMA Pediatrics study found that 67% of apps used by children aged 5 and under were transmitting personal identifiers to third parties.Comment of Angela Campbell, Chair of the Board of Directors, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Professor Emeritus, Communications & Technology Law Clinic, Georgetown University Law Center:“Parents reasonably expect that Google Play Store apps designated as ‘Teacher approved’ or appropriate for children under age 13 comply with the law protecting children’s privacy. But far too often, that is not the case. The FTC failed to act when this problem was brought to its attention over two years ago. Because children today are spending even more time using mobile apps, the FTC must hold Google accountable for violating children’s privacy.”Comment of Jeff Chester, executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy:"The Federal Trade Commission must swiftly act to stop Google’s ongoing disregard of the privacy and well-being of children. For too long, the Commission has allowed Google’s app store, and the data marketing practices that are its foundation, to operate without enforcing the federal law that is designed to protect young people under 13. With children using apps more than ever as a consequence of the pandemic, the FTC should enforce the law and ensure Google engages with kids and families in a responsible manner."### -
Contact: Jeff Chester, CDD (jeff@democraticmedia.org (link sends e-mail); 202-494-7100) David Monahan, CCFC (david@commercialfreechildhood.org (link sends e-mail);) Statement from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Center for Digital Democracy on Comments filed with FTC regarding Endorsement Guides WASHINGTON, DC and BOSTON, MA—June 23, 2020—Advocacy groups Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) filed comments on Monday in response to the FTC’s request for public comment (link is external) on its Endorsement Guides. Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy: "Influencer marketing should be declared an unfair and deceptive practice when it comes to children. The FTC is enabling so-called ‘kidfluencers,’ ‘brand ambassadors,’ and other ‘celebrity’ marketers to stealthily pitch kids junk food, toys and other products, despite the known risks to their privacy, personal health and security. Kids and teens are being targeted by a ‘wild west’ influencer marketing industry wherever they go online, including when they watch videos, play games, or use social media. It's time for the FTC to place the interests of America's youth before the manipulative commercial activities of influencers." Josh Golin, Executive Director, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood: “The FTC’s failure to act has helped create an entire ecosystem of unfair and deceptive influencer marketing aimed at children. It’s past time for the Commission to send a strong message to everyone – platforms, brands, ad agencies and the influencers themselves – that children should not be targets for this insidious and manipulative marketing.” Angela J. Campbell, Director Emeritus of the Institute for Public Representation’s Communications and Technology Clinic at Georgetown Law, currently chair of CCFC’s Board, and counsel to CCFC and CDD: "Influencer videos full of hidden promotions and sometimes blatant marketing have largely displaced actual programs for children. The FTC must act now to stop these deceptive and unfair practices." ###
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Press Release
Groups Tell FTC to Investigate TikTok’s Failure to Protect Children’s Privacy
TikTok gathers data from children despite promise made to commission
Contact: Jeff Chester, CDD (jeff@democraticmedia.org (link sends e-mail); 202-494-7100) David Monahan, CCFC (david@commercialfreechildhood.org (link sends e-mail);) Advocates Say TikTok In Contempt of Court Order More kids than ever use the site due to COVID19 quarantine, but TikTok flouts settlement agreement with the FTC WASHINGTON, DC and BOSTON, MA—May 14, 2020—Today, a coalition of leading U.S. child advocacy, consumer, and privacy groups filed a complaint (link is external) urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and sanction TikTok for putting kids at risk by continuing to violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In February 2019, TikTok paid a $5.7 million fine for violating COPPA, including illegally collecting personal information from children. But more than a year later, with quarantined kids and families flocking to the site in record numbers, TikTok has failed to delete personal information previously collected from children and is still collecting kids’ personal information without notice to and consent of parents. Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), and a total of 20 organizations demonstrated in their FTC filing that TikTok continues to violate COPPA by: failing to delete personal information related to children under 13 it obtained prior to the 2019 settlement order; failing to give direct notice to parents and to obtain parents’ consent before collecting kids’ personal information; and failing to give parents the right to review or delete their children’s personal information collected by TikTok. TikTok makes it easy for children to avoid obtaining parental consent. When a child under 13 tries to register using their actual birthdate, they will be signed up for a “younger users account” with limited functions, and no ability to share their videos. If a child is frustrated by this limited functionality, they can immediately register again with a fake birthdate from the same device for an account with full privileges, thereby putting them at risk for both TikTok’s commercial data uses and inappropriate contact from adults. In either case, TikTok makes no attempt to notify parents or obtain their consent. And TikTok doesn’t even comply with the law for those children who stick with limited “younger users accounts.” For these accounts, TikTok collects detailed information about how the child uses the app and uses artificial intelligence to determine what to show next, to keep the child engaged online as long as possible. The advocates, represented by the Communications & Technology Law Clinic in the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown Law, asked the FTC to identify and hold responsible those individuals who made or ratified decisions to violate the settlement agreement. They also asked the FTC to prevent TikTok from registering any new accounts for persons in the US until it adopts a reliable method of determining the ages of its users and comes into full compliance with the children’s privacy rules. In light of TikTok’s vast financial resources, the number and severity of the violations, and the large number of US children that use TikTok, they asked the FTC to seek the maximum monetary penalties allowed by law. Josh Golin, Executive Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said “For years, TikTok has ignored COPPA, thereby ensnaring perhaps millions of underage children in its marketing apparatus, and putting children at risk of sexual predation. Now, even after being caught red-handed by the FTC, TikTok continues to flout the law. We urge the Commission to take swift action and sanction TikTok again – this time with a fine and injunctive relief commensurate with the seriousness of TikTok’s serial violations.” Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said “Congress empowered the FTC to ensure that kids have online protections, yet here is another case of a digital giant deliberately violating the law. The failure of the FTC to ensure that TikTok protects the privacy of millions of children, including through its use of predictive AI applications, is another reason why there are questions whether the agency can be trusted to effectively oversee the kids’ data law.” Michael Rosenbloom, Staff Attorney and Teaching Fellow at the Institute for Public Representation, Georgetown Law, said “The FTC ordered TikTok to delete all personal information of children under 13 years old from its servers, but TikTok has clearly failed to do so. We easily found that many accounts featuring children were still present on TikTok. Many of these accounts have tens of thousands to millions of followers, and have been around since before the order. We urge the FTC to hold TikTok to account for continuing to violate both COPPA and its consent decree.” Katie McInnis, Policy Counsel at Consumer Reports, said "During the pandemic, families and children are turning to digital tools like TikTok to share videos with loved ones. Now more than ever, effective protection of children's personal information requires robust enforcement in order to incentivize companies, including TikTok, to comply with COPPA and any relevant consent decrees. We urge the FTC to investigate the matters raised in this complaint" Groups signing on to the complaint to the FTC are: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy, Badass Teachers Association, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, Defending the Early Years, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Media Education Foundation, Obligation, Inc., Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, Parents Across America, ParentsTogether Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Public Citizen, The Story of Stuff, United Church of Christ, and USPIRG. ###
