Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak discussed data privacy at Utah's Consumer Protection Symposium.
- Holyoak highlighted the FTC's enforcement of COPPA, citing a recent case against Disney.
- The symposium addressed AI's impact on privacy and the need for federal legislation.
SALT LAKE CITY — Since the rise of artificial intelligence, people, businesses and governments across the world have been grappling with what it means for a variety of reasons.
One of the biggest concerns is what the rise means for privacy — a topic that was a prime focus of discussion during the Utah Consumer Protection Symposium on Thursday at the Hilton in Salt Lake City.
"There is no federal comprehensive privacy legislation, but the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) does enforce a couple of different privacy statutes, including COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule)," FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak said.
The privacy protection rule imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age, according to the FTC.
"This is a statute that we robustly enforce, and we've had a couple of cases recently involving COPPA," Holyoak said.
One of those cases was against Disney.
In September, Disney was ordered to pay $10 million to settle FTC allegations that the company allowed personal data to be collected from children who viewed kid-directed videos on YouTube without notifying parents or obtaining their consent, as required by the privacy protection rule.
Holyoak added that the proposed order would transform how the entertainment behemoth designates videos on YouTube as "made for kids," while encouraging adoption of age assurance technologies on YouTube.
In addition to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, Holyoak said the FTC enforces a number of other privacy statutes.
"This is the topic de jure," Holyoak said. "It is what is happening with AI, particularly with privacy, because data is such a critical input area."
During the panel discussion, Margaret Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, expressed her desire for "federal data privacy data ownership" legislation. Holyoak agreed.
The conversation then shifted to AI chatbots.
A study out of Elon University published in March found that 52% of U.S. adults have used AI large language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot, bringing data privacy into focus.
A different study by U.S. nonprofit Common Sense Media found that a vast majority of U.S. teens (72%) have tried an AI companion at least once.
"They are being anthropomorphized to feel like you're, you know, your wise old grandpa next to you, who knows everything and is a human," Holyoak said. "They are absolutely being seen as an object of authority and being so humanized."
So, what is the FTC doing about it?
Holyoak said the commission is asking companies about data collection and the companies' relationship with kids.
"How often are they engaging with these? What kind of safety testing do you have here? What are you doing for negative impacts? Are you mitigating that? What are your parental controls?" Holyoak said. "So, really trying to understand every aspect of this ... so we can understand really well, how to respond to this."
"And this does not mean that we will not hear an enforcement action in this area if there is an issue, but this is, I think, critical for us to start understanding this really in depth," she added.
