Family Guy Dev Fined $300k for Collecting Children's Personal Info

[UPDATE] TinyCo. has posted a statement to its website explaining the matter.

"Today TinyCo settled with the FTC over COPPA violations in some of our older games. We have worked with the FTC to correct these issues, and have removed all email addresses collected by our old in-game social identity system, some of which may have belonged to children under the age of 13.

TinyCo fully supports COPPA and the FTC's effort to protect the privacy and data of children online. We apologize to anyone affected by this issue, and want to be unequivocal in stating that TinyCo is fully committed to protecting user privacy, particularly when children are involved.

All TinyCo games released since 2012 are strictly compliant with COPPA protections. These titles, including Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, are COPPA compliant and were not involved in the settlement."

More details about the case are available at TinyCo.'s website.

The original story is below.

San Francisco-based video game studio TinyCo., developer of the recently released Family Guy mobile game Quest for Stuff, has agreed to pay a $300,000 fine to settle charges brought against it from the United States Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC charges that TinyCo. violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by failing to adhere to COPPA standards regarding the collection of children's personal information. In addition to the $300,000 penalty, TinyCo. has agreed to delete the information it obtained and submit a report to the FTC that details the measures it has taken to ensure future compliance with COPPA.

"As people--especially children--move more of their lives onto mobile devices, it's important that they have the same consumer protections when they're using an app that they have when they're on a website," FTC Bureau of Consumer protector direct Jessica Rich said in a statement. "Companies should take steps as they build and test their apps to make sure that children's information won’t be collected without a parent’s consent."

In addition to Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, TinyCo. created and operates franchises like Tiny Pets, Tiny Zoo, Tiny Monsters, and Tiny Villages, which have combined for more than 34 million downloads to date. The FTC's complaint says that because TinyCo.'s games are aimed at children--they use brightly colored characters and simple language--the company is subject to COPPA standards.

The FTC's complaint further claims that many of TinyCo.'s games include an optional feature where users, some of whom are under 13, can obtain extra in-game currency by providing their email addresses. The FTC explains in its complaint that Tiny Co. "failed to follow the steps required under the Rule related to the collection of children’s personal information."

In a statement to The Guardian, TinyCo. apologized for the infraction and said it is committed to complying with COPPA standards going forward.

"TinyCo. fully supports COPPA and the FTC's effort to protect the privacy and data of children online," the company said. "We apologize to anyone affected by this issue, and want to be unequivocal in stating that TinyCo. is fully committed to protecting user privacy, particularly when children are involved."

Eddie Makuch is a news editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @EddieMakuch