WW International to pay $1.5M fine, delete kids' personal data in FTC settlement

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with WW International, formerly known as Weight Watchers, to resolve allegations that the weight loss company and its subsidiary Kurbo Inc. violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by illegally collecting kids' health data.

WW International and Kurbo market a health and wellness app and website called Kurbo by WW for children as young as 8, as well as teens and families. The app, which tracks a user's food intake, activity and weight, collects personal information such as names, email addresses and birth dates.

Under the terms of the settlement, the companies will pay a $1.5 million fine and destroy previously collected personal information that did not comply with the COPPA Rule's parental notice and consent requirements unless the companies’ obtained subsequent parental consent to retain such data.

WW International and Kurbo are also prohibited from retaining data from children under 13 for more than a year after the last time a child uses Kurbo by WW. The companies are required to destroy any affected work product that illegally collected data in violation of COPPA as well. 

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COPPA requires that websites, apps and online services that are child-directed or knowingly collect children's personal information notify parents and get their consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information for children under 13. 

Kurbo executive Michael Colosi told FOX Business that the company "takes child privacy very seriously and its highest priority is protecting its members and their personal data." He added that the limited information collected was used "solely for the purpose of helping the users develop better eating habits."

"At no time did Kurbo ever target children with advertising, sell data to third parties, or otherwise monetize its users in any way, and no parents or children ever complained that Kurbo used their personal data in an inappropriate manner," he said. "While Kurbo disputes that its historical practices violated COPPA, in every instance where the FTC staff indicated a possible compliance gap, Kurbo promptly took action to correct it. This settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing and reflects Kurbo’s desire to focus on its business and its mission of continuing to help families and children in a safe and protected environment."

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According to a complaint filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC, Kurbo by WW users sign up for the service either on its app or website by indicating that they are a parent signing up for their child or a child over the age of 13 signing up for themselves.

The FTC argues that the app "did not provide any form of notice to parents that defendants were collecting personal information from children, or seek to obtain parents’ consent for that collection" until late 2019.

As a result, the agency alleges that the Kurbo by WW signup process encouraged younger users to falsely claim they were over the age of 13, despite text on the app notifying them that they must sign up through a parent. The complaint adds that hundreds of users who signed up for the app between 2014 and 2019 claimed to be over the age of 13 but later changed their birth dates on their profiles to indicate they were under 13. 

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In 2020, the sign-up option for children over 13 was revised by requiring users to click a box to agree to information collection in order to proceed, according to the complaint. However, the FTC alleges that Kurbo failed to put a mechanism in place to ensure users who clicked the box were actually parents and not a child trying to bypass the age restriction. 

In addition, the FTC claims that parents who signed their children up were only given a notice about information collection by clicking on a hyperlink buried in a string of other links. It also claims that WW International and Kurbo violated COPPA's data retention provisions by retaining children's personal information indefinitely and only deleting it when requested by a parent.