UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Federal Trade Commission

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580

Office of Commissioner

Rohit Chopra

STATEMENT OF 

COMMISSIONER ROHIT CHOPRA

Regarding Miniclip and the COPPA Safe Harbors

Commission File No. 1923129

May 18, 2020

Miniclip is a major player in the mobile gaming space, offering over 1,000 games to users,

1

including children, around the world. Miniclip is owned by Tencent, the Chinese tech 

conglomerate.2

Today, the FTC is taking action against Miniclip, but not for violations of the Children’s Online 

Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Instead, the Commission is ordering Miniclip to stop 

misrepresenting that it participates in a children’s privacy self-regulatory program. 

Miniclip was enrolled in a COPPA “Safe Harbor” program run by the Children’s Advertising 

Review Unit (CARU). The Federal Trade Commission approves these Safe Harbor programs, 

and companies that participate in an approved program get special regulatory treatment. 

According to CARU, “Program participants who adhere to CARU’s Guidelines are deemed in 

compliance with COPPA and essentially insulated from enforcement actions by the Federal 

Trade Commission (FTC).”3

In 2015, Miniclip was terminated from CARU’s Safe Harbor program. According to my office’s 

analysis of COPPA Safe Harbor reports submitted to the FTC, terminations are exceedingly 

rare.4I commend CARU for demonstrating its willingness to discipline its participants that 

violate its guidelines, but the specific details regarding Miniclip’s violations that led to its 

 

1 Miniclip The Ultimate Games Brand: About, MINICLIP, https://corporate.miniclip.com/about/ (last visited May 15, 

2020).

2 Surveillance and data collection on American children raise concerns that go beyond privacy. According to a State 

Department official, there are critical national security issues with respect to technology companies affiliated with 

the Chinese government, such as Huawei, ZTE, Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent. Dr. Christopher Ashley Ford, 

Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, Remarks at the 

Multilateral Action on Sensitive Technologies (MAST) Conference at the Loy Henderson Auditorium in 

Washington, D.C., Huawei and Its Siblings, the Chinese Tech Giants: National Security and Foreign Policy 

Implications (Sept. 11, 2019), https://www.state.gov/huawei-and-its-siblings-the-chinese-tech-giants-nationalsecurity-and-foreign-policy-implications/.

3 The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU NATIONAL 

PROGRAMS., https://bbbprograms.org/programs/all-programs/caru/CARU-COPPA-safe-harbor (last visited May 15, 

2020).

4 Rohit Chopra, Commissioner, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Remarks at the Common Sense Media Truth About Tech 

Conference at Georgetown University (Apr. 4, 2019), https://www.ftc.gov/public-statements/2019/04/preparedremarks-commissioner-rohit-chopra-common-sense-media-truth-about.
termination remain a secret to the public. If the FTC does not promptly learn about or investigate 

terminations by COPPA Safe Harbors, the agency may be unable to obtain civil penalties, due to 

the five-year statute of limitations.

While I support this action, the Miniclip matter reinforces my concerns about the COPPA Safe 

Harbor programs. The Commission must take many steps to revamp its approach to these thirdparty privacy policing programs, such as:

 Subjecting the COPPA Safe Harbors to routine reviews and Commission votes to 

maintain accreditation, rather than the current “lifetime approval” approach

 Disclosing COPPA Safe Harbor performance data to the public, including complaints 

handled and disciplinary actions taken

 Limiting conflicts of interest by COPPA Safe Harbors by restricting additional fee-based 

consulting offered by affiliates of the Safe Harbor to participating websites and apps

 Seeking the prompt submission to the FTC of all documentation regarding disciplinary 

actions

 Terminating Safe Harbor programs that do not adequately fulfill their oversight 

requirements 

Beefing up oversight of the COPPA Safe Harbor program is just one of many actions the 

Commission must take to strengthen our approach to protecting children’s privacy. The 

Commission should also issue orders under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act to further study how 

companies are collecting, sharing, and monetizing data on children, as we look to modernize our 

rules and enforcement strategy to root out children’s privacy violations.