FTC Gives Age Verification Tools a COPPA Safe Harbor
The FTC won't pursue COPPA enforcement against companies using age verification tools if data is only used to confirm age.
The Federal Trade Commission just handed the tech industry a significant olive branch on children's privacy. The agency released a policy statement saying it won't bring enforcement actions under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) against companies deploying age verification tools — with one big catch.
The data collected during age checks must be used exclusively for verifying a user's age. Nothing else. No profiling, no ad targeting, no secondary purposes.
It's a meaningful shift. Companies have long hesitated to implement robust age gates precisely because collecting that verification data could itself trigger COPPA liability. A catch-22 that left many platforms relying on flimsy checkbox confirmations instead.
The new guidance effectively removes that barrier, giving companies legal breathing room to actually check whether users are old enough to be on their platforms. Whether they'll actually step up remains to be seen.