COPPA is a law that protects kids online by making sure parents know what info websites collect about them.
# What is COPPA? Why Parents Need to Say Yes
What Does COPPA Mean?
COPPA stands for the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. It's a law that gives parents control over what information websites can collect from their kids.
Think of COPPA like a permission slip for the internet. Just like you need your parent's permission to go on a field trip, websites need your parent's permission to collect information about you.
Who Does COPPA Protect?
COPPA applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction about children under 13 years of age. That means if you're under 13 and using a website or app in the United States, COPPA is there to protect you.
What Information Does COPPA Protect?
When websites collect "personal information," they're gathering details about you. This includes children's names, nicknames, email addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, and other geo-location information, social security numbers, photos, video, and audio files of the child, any persistent identifier or tracker that can be used to recognize an individual's use over time and/or across different websites.
Basically, COPPA protects anything that could identify you or help someone find you online.
Why Do Parents Need to Say Yes?
The primary goal of COPPA is to place parents in control over what information is collected from their young children online. Here's why this matters:
Your Safety Comes First. Congress determined to apply the statute's protections only to children under 13, recognizing that younger children are particularly vulnerable to overreaching by marketers and may not understand the safety and privacy issues created by the online collection of personal information.
COPPA makes it unlawful for websites and online services to collect personal information from children under 13 without first obtaining the verifiable consent of the child's parent. "Verifiable" means the website has to make sure it's really your parent saying yes—not you pretending to be your parent!
How Do Websites Get Your Parent's Permission?
Websites can ask for permission in different ways. Existing methods to obtain verifiable parental consent include providing a consent form to be signed by the parent and returned by postal mail, facsimile, or electronic scan; requiring a parent to use a credit card, debit card, or other online payment system that provides notification of each discrete transaction; having a parent call a toll-free telephone number staffed by trained personnel; or having a parent connect to trained personnel via video-conference.
Some websites might ask your parent to answer special questions to prove they're an adult, or they might ask them to verify their identity using a photo ID.
What Happens If Websites Break the Rules?
Websites that don't follow COPPA get in serious trouble. According to the FTC, courts may fine violators of COPPA up to $53,088 in civil penalties for each violation. In 2019, the FTC hit YouTube with a COPPA fine of $170 million for illegally harvesting children's data and targeting ads at kids without their parents' consent.
Recent Updates to COPPA
On Monday, June 23, 2025, a set of final rules promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission amending COPPA went into effect. This update marks the FTC's first rulemaking effort since 2013.
Under the new COPPA rules, businesses will now be required to obtain separate and verifiable consent from parents to disclose children's personal information for targeted advertising directed at their children. This means websites need extra permission if they want to show you ads based on your interests.
What You Should Know
COPPA exists to keep you safe online. When your parent says "yes" to a website, they're saying they understand what information the site will collect and how it will be used. The goal of COPPA is to provide parents with greater control over what information is collected from their children online and how such information is used.
Your parents are your best protection online. Always ask them before signing up for websites or apps, and remember: if a website asks for personal information, it should ask your parent first!
