The FTC has fined an app developer for failure to acquire parental consent for sharing online identifiers for use for targeted advertising.

A developer of apps that are popular with children has agreed to pay $150,000 and to delete personal information it illegally collected from children under 13 to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations.

FTC alleges that HyperBeard, Inc. violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule) by allowing third-party ad networks to collect personal information in the form of persistent identifiers to track users of the company’s child-directed apps for use for serving targeted advertising, without:

  1. notifying parents
  2. obtaining verifiable parental consent
  3. informing these third-party advertising networks that any of the apps are directed to children, or
  4. instructing or contractually requiring the advertising networks to refrain from behavioral advertising.

Details from the Federal Trade Commission.