FTC finalizes COPPA Rule amendments (expanded child-directed factors)
On 16 January 2025 the FTC finalized COPPA Rule amendments requiring separate verifiable parental consent for third-party disclosures/targeted ads, tighter retention, and related notice duties; Federal Register timing drives effective and compliance dates.
On 16 January 2025 the FTC finalized amendments to the COPPA Rule. The FTC FAQ hub later notes the Rule was amended on 22 April 2025 in the Federal Register context (COPPA FAQs).
Material changes (FTC summary)
Covered operators must obtain separate verifiable parental consent before disclosing children’s personal information to third parties for targeted advertising or other non-integral purposes. Retention is limited to as long as reasonably necessary for a specific purpose — indefinite retention is prohibited. Safe Harbor programmes face added transparency duties. Definitions expand (for example biometric and government-issued identifiers). The Commission declined some proposed limits (including certain push-notification and ed-tech school-environment proposals).
Industry compliance calendars commonly cite effectiveness 60 days after Federal Register publication (23 June 2025) and a one-year compliance deadline (22 April 2026). Operators should verify against the Federal Register notice text rather than secondary blogs.
Operator action
| Field | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Commission vote / finalization | 2025-01-16 |
| Separate VPC for targeted ads / third-party disclosure | Required |
| Indefinite retention | Prohibited |
| Full compliance deadline (industry calendar) | 2026-04-22 (verify FR) |
| UA implication | Marketing materials, reviews and similar-service age composition feed child-directed analysis; kids-adjacent F2P UA needs COPPA counsel mapping |
This record does not invent new child-directed factor wording beyond the FTC press summary — open the final rule text for exact regulatory language.
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