TheCorporateCounsel.net

. . .SpongeBob SquarePants!  Yes, I’m sorry to report that America’s favorite cartoon sponge has found himself in the crosshairs of California’s Attorney General for allegedly running afoul of the Golden State’s privacy laws. This excerpt from a WilmerHale blog explains:

On June 18, the California Attorney General (“AG”) and Los Angeles City Attorney announced a settlement with Tilting Point Media, the maker of a mobile app game called “SpongeBob: Krusty Cook-Off,” resolving allegations that Tilting Point violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting and sharing children’s data without obtaining required parental consent (for users under the age of 13) or affirmative opt-in consent (for users between the ages of 13 and 16). Under the terms of the settlement, Tilting Point must pay a penalty of $500,000 and comply with a host of injunctive terms, including compliance with the CCPA and COPPA, appropriate use of age screens, and implementation of processes to ensure data minimization and the proper use of software development kits (SDKs).

The blog says that this is the third CCPA settlement that the AG has entered into this year, and that this is the first one to focus on children, which suggests that this may be an area of growing enforcement priority for the California AG.  It says that the critical takeaway from this action is that companies processing data from users under 16 must have appropriate consents and authorizations.

– John Jenkins