More than two in five apps designed for kids in the Google Play Store may violate federal rules governing the data privacy of children, according to a report released Thursday.
Researchers for Comparitech looked at about 500 of the most popular kid-focused apps available through Google's app store, analyzing their privacy policies to see if they met key requirements set by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. They also looked at what personal information could be collected by each app and whether each app's privacy policy included a "clear and concise" section explaining its data collection practices.
COPPA, enforced by the US Federal Trade Commission, sets rules for how apps, websites and other online services should treat the personal data of kids under the age of 13.
According to Comparitech, the researchers found some kind of potential COPPA violation in 222, or nearly 45%, of the apps they analyzed. In addition, while the majority of those apps mentioned the importance of protecting kids' data in their policies, they didn't put in place sufficient practices to do that, Comparitech said.
The new numbers mark a drop in compliance from a similar Comparitech study done last year that found one in four apps to be potentially out of compliance, along with 2022 research pointing to possible problems with one in five apps.
In response to the report, Google said in a statement that it takes the protection of children seriously and that its app store "has policies and processes in place" to help protect children on the platform.
More than half the apps were deemed to be seemingly in violation of COPPA because they appeared to be collecting kids' data without COPPA-mandated protocols in place, the researchers said. That could include failing to ask for parental consent before collecting data. In addition, about 15% of the questionable apps looked to be collecting the personal information of kids without having the COPPA-mandated child data collection policy in place.
The researchers also warned that just because an app looks like it's safe for kids, that doesn't guarantee their privacy rights will be respected. All the apps that appeared to be in violation of COPPA sported "teacher approved" badges, which signify that they've been through additional reviews by educators and other experts who look at characteristics such as kid appeal and age appropriateness.
And 31, or about 6%, of the total number of apps investigated, claimed in their privacy policies that they weren't intended for use by children, and therefore not subject to COPPA regulations, despite being listed in the Play Store's "E for Everyone" category.