WW International – formerly known as Weight Watchers – and a subsidiary used a nutrition app to illegally collect personal data for children under the age of eight, the Federal Trade Commission said Friday.
In a complaint filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC, regulators claim that the app collected the children’s names, email addresses and dates of birth without their parents’ consent. This is a violation of the Internet Privacy Act, or COPPA, which requires applications, websites, and online services that target children to obtain parental permission before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children below. of 13 years.
By the end of 2019, users of the Weight Watchers app could sign up for the service by indicating online that it was a parent registering their child or someone over the age of 13, the FTC said. A settlement order requires WW and its Kurbo unit to pay a $ 1.5 million fine and delete sensitive health information.
“Our order against these companies requires them to delete their illegal data, destroy any algorithms that come from them, and pay a fine for violating the law,” FTC President Lina Khan said in a statement.
Weight Watchers — the nutrition company that has been around since the 1960s — acquired Kurbo Health technology startup in 2018. They launched a health and wellness app, Kurbo by WW, in 2020 for children between the ages of 8 and 17. The release proved controversial, with eating disorder researchers. therapists and pediatricians among those concerned would further stigmatize heavier children.
The majority of clients with eating disorders I work with have a diet history. For most, it started with Weight Watchers. Suggesting this @KurboHealth will promote health and not disease is missing EVERY SIGN. #wakeupweightwatchers
– Anna Sweeney MS, RD, LDN, CEDRD-S (@DietitianAnna) August 15, 2019
The company reportedly encouraged younger users to falsely claim to be over 13 years old to circumvent a requirement that parents must consent to before data on their pre-adolescent children could be collected.
“From 2014 to 2019, hundreds of users who signed up for the app claiming to be over 13 later changed their birth dates on their profiles to indicate they were actually under 13,” the government said in a statement. These users continued to access the application until FTC staff contacted the companies, the agency said.
The child registration option was revised in 2020, but problems with children who could bypass the age limit continued, the FTC added.
Kurbo has challenged a breach of online privacy policy, saying it took immediate action to correct any compliance breaches as soon as they were notified by the FTC.
“Kurbo has never targeted children with ads, sold data to third parties or otherwise generated revenue from its users in any way, and no parent or child has ever complained that Kurbo used their personal data inappropriately.” said Michael Colosi, general counsel. in Kurbo, he said in an email to CBS MoneyWatch.
The settlement, approved by a federal judge in California on Thursday, is not an admission of guilt, but a reflection of “Kurbo’s desire to focus on his business and his mission to continue helping families and children in a safe and secure environment.” Colossus. was added.
The fines for WW and Kurbo are pale in comparison to a $ 170 million fine on Google in 2019, after the FTC claimed that YouTube violated COPPA in providing targeted ads to children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics in 2016 published a report advising not to talk about weight or the need to lose extra pounds in children and adolescents. Research has found that such discussions can increase the chances of developing an eating disorder or gaining weight later, the medical team noted.
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