UK Regulator Investigates Children’s Data Privacy in Popular mobile Games
The UK’s Information commissioner’s Office (ICO) has initiated a review of ten widely-played mobile games to evaluate their practices regarding children’s data protection. The examination will focus on default privacy settings, geolocation features, targeted advertising, and other potential privacy concerns.
This move extends the ICO’s ongoing efforts to enhance online safety for children, building on progress already made with social media and video-sharing platforms through its Children’s Code strategy. The ICO highlighted that approximately 90% of children now use digital devices, and a significant 84% of parents express worry about their children encountering harmful content or predatory behavior online.
Recent data indicates significant parental concern regarding mobile game data practices: 30% of children have ceased playing a game due to data privacy issues, and three-quarters of parents are apprehensive about the data collected from, or advertising shown to, their children within these games.
“Children’s online experiences are shaped not just by social media and video sharing platforms, but also by the games they play,” stated Information commissioner John Edwards. He added that initial assessments suggest mobile game designs can be “especially intrusive,” prompting questions about their compliance with the ICO’s Children’s Code.
The ICO intends to apply the same rigorous data protection standards to mobile games as it has to other online platforms.
The proclamation follows a recent, reportedly “tense,” interview with Roblox CEO David Baszucki published by The New York Times. During a Hard Fork podcast appearance, Baszucki defended his company’s child safety measures, stating they where implemented not due to impending legislation, but as “it’s the right thing to do,” while declining to discuss specific cases.
