Partner Justine Young Gottshall was interviewed in the March 20, 2019 edition of the Cybersecurity Law Report discussing whether a site is appealing to or directed at children and monitoring user profiles. (note that subscription or registration for a free trial is required to access full article). COPPA Compliance Lessons Following Musical.ly’s $5.7 Million FTC Settlement.

The FTC’s recent record-breaking settlement in a Children’s Online Protection Privacy Act (COPPA) action sends a clear message about the importance of compliance with the regulation. Musical.ly, a popular video social networking app now known as TikTok, is required to pay $5.7 million to settle the FTC’s claims that it violated COPPA by failing to notify and obtain the consent of parents that it was collecting personal information from children under the age of 13, the agency announced on February 27, 2019. “We are seeing very large COPPA settlements – first the New York Attorney General settlement with Oath for nearly $5 million in December 2018 and now this $5.7 million FTC settlement. There is clearly a message being sent about the importance of these cases and I anticipate we will continue to see strong enforcement and significant fines being levied,” InfoLawGroup partner Justine Gottshall told the Cybersecurity Law Report.