The Federal Trade Commission announced today that the Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations that the entertainment company had engaged in the “unlawful collection” of children’s personal data on the YouTube platform.

Regulators at the FTC said the company failed to flag certain videos on its platform as “Made for Kids” — a required label designed to shield children from data tracking and targeted ads. In response, Disney agreed to overhaul its policies to stay in line with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which mandates parental consent before collecting any data from users under 13.

Back in 2019, YouTube had to pay $170 million to settle charges that it illegally harvested data from children. The deal forced the platform to roll out a new system requiring creators to tag their uploads as either “Made for Kids” or not — a compliance move aimed at tightening protections under COPPA.

According to the FTC, YouTube flagged Disney in June 2020 after finding that roughly 300 videos — including clips from “The Incredibles,” “Coco,” “Toy Story,” “Tangled” and “Frozen” — weren’t marked as “Made for Kids.” YouTube stepped in to redesignate the content and, per the complaint, had to keep correcting similar mislabels over the next two years.

The issue stems from how Disney applied its labeling policy. Rather than tagging each video individually, the company set designations at the channel level. That meant when Disney uploaded kids’ content to channels marked “Not Made for Kids,” the videos defaulted to the wrong setting, effectively skirting COPPA requirements.

“Our order penalizes Disney’s abuse of parents’ trust, and, through a mandated video-review program, makes room for the future of protecting kids online — age assurance technology,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

Disney downplayed the scope of the case, stressing that the settlement only covers some of its content hosted on YouTube — not its own platforms. A company spokesperson said Disney has “a long tradition of embracing the highest standards of compliance with children’s privacy laws” and remains committed to investing in tools to stay ahead in the space.

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