FTC Issues COPPA Policy Statement Encouraging Adoption of Age-Verification Technologies
FTC Issues COPPA Policy Statement Encouraging Adoption of Age-Verification Technologies
Publish Date: 2026-02-26 17:30:00
Source Domain: www.hunton.com
FTC Issues COPPA Policy Statement Encouraging Adoption of Age-Verification Technologies
On February 25, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission announced a new Policy Statement encouraging the use of age-verification technologies, pursuant to the agency’s authority to enforce the Children’s Online Privacy Protection (“COPPA”) and the FTC’s COPPA Rule. Among other requirements, COPPA requires parental notice and verifiable consent prior to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information obtained from children under 13 online. COPPA applies to operators of commercial websites and online services that either: (1) are specifically “directed to children” under 13, as determined by FTC criteria; or (2) have “actual knowledge” – as defined under COPPA – of collecting personal information from children under 13 online. Operators of websites or online services that are “directed to children” must comply with COPPA’s requirements with respect to all users. On the contrary, operators of “general audience” websites or online services (i.e., online services that are not directed to children) must comply with COPPA only when the operator has “actual knowledge” that a user is a child under 13. Additionally, operators of “mixed audience” websites or online services (i.e., websites that may be “directed to children” but do not target children as their “primary audience”) must comply with COPPA with respect to users identified as under 13 (e.g., through the use of an age gate). The Policy Statement collectively refers to operators of “general audience” and “mixed audience” websites and online services as “Relevant Operators.”
The Policy Statement acknowledges the recent enactment of a number of state laws requiring certain websites and online services to use age-verification mechanisms. While neither the COPPA Rule nor the Policy Statement explicitly requires Relevant Operators to verify users’ ages, the Policy…
