FTC Finalizes Rule to Amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

On January 16, 2025, the FTC announced a Final Rule amending COPPA, related to the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information about children under the age of 13. This amendment has been long in the making as COPPA was initially enacted in 1998.  It came into effect in 2000 and was last amended in 2013. The process that led to this most recent amendment began back in 2019. However, the Final Rule is not yet in effect. It is not officially effective until sixty (60) days from the date it is published in the Federal Register. The Final Rule must still be reviewed and approved by incoming FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson. Once the Final Rule is effective, companies will have one (1) year from the publication date to achieve full compliance.

While the Final Rule amends COPPA in several respects, including data retention, the Safe Harbor Program, and certain definitions. Probably the most important changes involve how parental consent is obtained and the requirement for verifiable parental consent and opt-in for disclosure of a child’s personal information to third parties for targeted advertising or other purposes that are not integral to the website or online service.

The new rule has three (3) new methods for obtaining verifiable parental consent:

1. knowledge-based question where it is unlikely that a child will know the answer;
2. facial recognition technology to match an image provided by the parent with the parent’s picture from a government-issued ID; and
3. text plus verification in which the text message is verified by an additional step such as sending a confirmatory text message.

The Final Rule also has an affirmative opt-in requirement for the sale or sharing of children’s personal information. This aspect of the Final Rule is similar to several new state privacy laws, which either require opt-in consent for the sale or sharing of children’s data or outright bans on selling or sharing such information.

Since the Final Rule is not quite over the finish line yet, we will continue to follow its progress toward final approval and publication in the Federal Register.

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