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FTC fines kids' app developer HyperBeard $150K for use of third-party ad trackers – TechCrunch:

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced a settlement of $150,000 with HyperBeard, the developer of a collection of children's mobile games over violations of U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule). The company's applications had been downloaded more than 50 million times on a worldwide basis to date, according to data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

A complaint filed by the Dept. of Justice on behalf of the FTC alleged that HyperBeard had violated COPPA 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. And it did so without notifying parents or obtaining verifiable parental consent, as is required. These ad networks then used the identifiers to target ads to children using HyperBeard's games.

[...] The FTC determined HyperBeard's apps were marketed toward children because they used brightly colored, animated characters like cats, dogs, bunnies, chicks, monkeys and other cartoon characters, and were described in child-friendly terms like "super cute" and "silly." The company also marketed its apps on a kids' entertainment website, YayOMG, published children's books and licensed other products, including stuffed animals and block construction sets, based on its app characters.

[...] In HyperBeard's settlement with the FTC, the company has agreed to pay a $150,000 fine and delete the personal information it illegally collected from children under the age of 13. The settlement had originally included a $4 million penalty, but the FTC suspended it over HyperBeard's inability to pay the full amount. But that larger amount will become due if the company or its CEO, Alexander Kozachenko, are ever found to have misrepresented their finances.

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