How Many Kids Are Protected by Online Privacy Laws?

In 2019, PwC estimates that there are nearly 130 million kids protected by some form of data privacy legislation, with that number expected to grow by 515 percent over the next three years. Currently, all children protected by online privacy laws are in the U.S. and the EU.

The current law of the land in the United States is COPPA, or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The legislation was first put into effect in 2000 and was substantially updated in 2013. COPPA covers children under the age of 13 and aims to put parents in control over what information is collected about their children. There is another update to COPPA that may be rolled out in the coming years that would cover children up to the age of 16.

Currently the only other legal regime that is in place is in the EU under the GDPR-K. All European Union member states are required to apply the law to children under the age of 13, though individual member states have expanded legislation to include kids up to16. Both GDPR-K and COPPA broadly focus on tracking, anonymity and parents playing a roll in agreeing to information collected on their children.

China and India are both considering online privacy laws for children, legislation which would greatly expand the number of protected kids on the internet. If these laws are put in place, 800 million kids would be affected by 2021, covering about a third of the global under-18 population. China’s PIS is expected to be passed and implemented within the next two to three years, while India’s PDPA would apply to kids under 18 and would be rolled out over a similar time frame.

PwC’s report was commissioned by SuperAwesome, a kid-focused advertising technology organization.