FTC COPPA Age Verification Policy

The Federal Trade Commission’s COPPA age-verification policy addresses how general-audience and mixed-audience online services can use age checks without triggering certain enforcement concerns.

The guidance emphasizes limiting data use to age determination, prompt deletion, security, notice, controlled third-party disclosures, and reasonable accuracy, while excluding services primarily directed to children from its relaxed approach. Its implementation raises practical and privacy questions involving biometric and identity-based methods, parental consent, overlapping state requirements, and potential future COPPA rulemaking.