Children’s Privacy: CARU takes Firefly Games to task
The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) has gotten Firefly Games to agree to address a string of bad decisions the company made about how to handle “mixed audience” data – and the company’s violation should serve as a warning to other businesses with adult and youth consumers. CARU found major inconsistencies in the company’s app, LOL Surprise! Room Makover, which featured children’s characters and also appealed to adults. Issues included problems with the company’s and app’s privacy policy descriptions, inconsistent cookie and geo-location information, and a lack of age verification and parental consent mechanisms.