Disney Class Action Claims Gaming Apps Illegally Collect Kids’ Data

UPDATE 3: November 2020, Disney, Viacom, and other mobile app providers agreed to settle the child privacy class action lawsuits. The settlement provides injunctive relief in the form of not collecting data from gamers under a certain age. Click here to learn more.

UPDATE 2: On May 22, 2019, a class action lawsuit alleging that a number of app developers unlawfully scrape data from child video game players will proceed, per a California federal judge’s decision.

UPDATE: On Aug. 3, 2018, a number of app developers including Disney and Viacom argue that class action lawsuits alleging they illegally collect data about children should be dismissed.

Disney gaming apps secretly collect personal information about children who use them, says a mother now bringing a privacy rights class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Amanda Rushing says her child, identified in the Disney class action lawsuit as L.L., was subject to unlawful data collection while playing the Disney gaming app Disney Princess Palace Pets.

Rushing says L.L., who was under the age of 13 at the time, played Disney Palace Pets frequently after Rushing downloaded the app to L.L.’s mobile device in January 2014. All the while, she claims, Disney and its software development partners were collecting information about L.L.’s use of the mobile device, and all without Rushing’s knowledge or consent.

She now accuses defendants The Walt Disney Company, its subsidiary Disney Enterprises Inc., and Disney Electronic Content Inc. of violating the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

Passed in 1999 to protect children’s privacy while they use the internet, COPPA prohibits developers of children’s apps and their third-party partners from collecting personal information about children younger than 13 without first getting verifiable consent from their parents.

In addition to the Disney defendants, Rushing also names as defendants three software companies – Upsight Inc., Unity Technologies SF, and Kochava Inc. – that allegedly provided Disney with advertising software for use in Disney gaming apps.

In exchange for allowing these software companies to install advertising software in Disney gaming apps, Rushing claims, the companies pay Disney based on the number of ads shown. This ad revenue generally allows software developers to offer their apps for free.

According to this Disney gaming apps class action lawsuit, advertising software collects personal information and persistent identifiers – unique numbers linked to the user’s specific device – then uses that information to target the child for marketing purposes.

Persistent identifiers can be particularly useful to advertisers, as they allow developers to track the child’s use of the device across multiple apps and platforms, according to Rushing. By using persistent identifiers, marketers can track a child’s online behavior without knowing any other personal information such as the child’s name, address, or email.

Disney knowingly allowed the software companies to install these kits in Disney gaming apps, in the interest of generating advertising revenue from the apps, according to Rushing.

Disney is no stranger to COPPA claims. Rushing points out that in 2011, Disney subsidiary Playdom Inc. was hit with a $3 million civil penalty for allegedly collecting and disclosing personal data on hundreds of thousands of children, all without first getting their parents’ consent.

Rushing proposes to represent Class Members from 35 different states, all of whom are or were children younger than age 13 when they played the Disney gaming apps at issue here, as well as their parents or legal guardians. She also proposed a subclass of Class Members from California for purposes of bringing claims under that state’s laws.

She is asking the court to issue an order finding that the data collection used in the Disney gaming apps violates COPPA and enjoining the defendants from collecting and disclosing children’s personal information without first getting verifiable parental consent. She also seeks actual, statutory and punitive damages, equitable relief as may be appropriate, and an award of court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Rushing is represented by attorneys Michael W. Sobol, Nicholas Diamand, Douglas I. Cuthbertson and Abbye R. Klamann of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP, and by Hank Bates, Allen Carney and David Slade of Carney Bates & Pulliam PLLC.

The Disney Gaming Apps Data Collection Class Action Lawsuit is Amanda Rushing, et al. v. The Walt Disney Company, et al., Case No. 3:17-cv-04419, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.