COPPA — Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act

Why it Matters

COPPA establishes essential privacy safeguards that helporganizations responsibly manage children’s personal data whilesupporting regulatory compliance and risk mitigation.

Key benefits include:

• Strengthen data protection measures

Supportresponsible collection, use, and storage of children’s personalinformation through clear management practices and securitysafeguards.

• Enhance regulatory alignment

Enableorganizations to demonstrate compliance with U.S. federalrequirements governing children’s privacy and online datacollection activities.

• Increase parental trust

Facilitatetransparency and parental control over children’s information,promoting confidence among parents and guardians.

• Improve risk management

Reduce the riskof legal penalties and reputational harm by adhering to mandatedconsent, access, and data usage requirements.

• Support operational integrity

Encourage robustprivacy processes that integrate with existing compliance programs,fostering consistent and secure digital offerings for children.

How it Works

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) establishes aregulatory framework specifically structured around compliancerequirements for organizations collecting, using, or disclosingpersonal information from children under 13. COPPA’s structure isbuilt on a set of regulatory mandates that define obligations relatedto parental consent, privacy notices, data minimization, and securitysafeguards. The framework also clarifies responsibilities throughdefined processes for verification, consent management, data accessrights, and oversight.

Organizations implement COPPA by integrating compliant privacypractices into their data collection workflows and governanceprograms. This involves deploying security controls to protectchildren’s data, conducting regular compliance assessments, andensuring that parental consent mechanisms are in place andverifiable. Ongoing monitoring, incident management, anddocumentation of privacy practices help organizations maintainalignment with COPPA requirements and support their risk managementactivities.

Using SmartSuite, organizations operationalize COPPA compliance byleveraging centralized control libraries for COPPA mandates,maintaining risk registers to track data protection risks, andsupporting evidence collection for audits. Policy governance tools,compliance tracking, remediation workflows, and real-time reportingdashboards facilitate effective management of COPPA-specificobligations and support audit readiness.

Key Elements

• Parental Consent Mechanisms

Establishesstructured processes for obtaining and verifying parental permissionprior to collecting children’s personal information.

• Data Collection Limitations

Specifiesboundaries on what data may be gathered from children and under whatcircumstances.

• Privacy Notice Requirements

Outlinesrequirements for providing clear, accessible privacy policiesregarding children’s data practices.

• Parental Access and Control Procedures

Describesmechanisms for allowing parents to review, modify, or delete theirchild’s information.

• Information Security Safeguards

Defines securitycontrols necessary to protect the confidentiality and integrity ofchildren’s personal data.

• Regulatory Oversight and Enforcement

Organizes federaloversight, monitoring, and compliance enforcement responsibilitiesunder the Federal Trade Commission.

Framework Scope

COPPA—Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act—is used bydigital service providers, education platforms, and entertainmentcompanies interacting with children under 13. The act governswebsites, mobile applications, and online services handlingchildren’s data, and is commonly implemented when managing parentalconsent, privacy risk, and supporting compliance oversight withfederal privacy obligations.

Framework Objectives

COPPA sets forth essential requirements to safeguard children’sonline privacy and ensure responsible data practices fororganizations collecting minors’ information.

Protect the personal data of children under 13 from unauthorizedaccess

Establish clear governance and accountability for children’s dataprivacy

Enhance compliance with regulatory standards and FTC enforcementactions

Support risk management by requiring verifiable parental consentmechanisms

Strengthen security controls around the collection and storage ofchildren’s information

Demonstrate commitment to data protection, privacy, and improvedoversight in digital environments COPPA is a U.S. law focused onchildren's online privacy and is often mapped to broader privacyframeworks like GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and ISO/IEC 27701 to harmonizeconsent, data minimization, and parental controls. Organizationsimplement COPPA for regulatory compliance, privacy-by-design inchild-directed products, policy updates, vendor assessments, andaudit readiness.

Framework in Context

COPPA is a U.S. lawfocused on children's online privacy and is often mapped to broaderprivacy frameworks like GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and ISO/IEC 27701 toharmonize consent, data minimization, and parental controls.Organizations implement COPPA for regulatory compliance,privacy-by-design in child-directed products, policy updates, vendorassessments, and audit readiness.

Common Framework Mappings

Organizations map COPPA to global and national privacy frameworks toalign consent, data minimization, cross‑border rules and youthprotections, simplifying compliance and risk management.

Mapped frameworks include:

APEC Privacy Framework

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) / California Privacy RightsAct (CPRA)

ePrivacy Directive

EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

ISO/IEC 27701

Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD)

NIST Privacy Framework

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)