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Florida’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit alleging that a major smart TV and streaming platform (Roku) collected and sold children’s personal data without obtaining proper consent from parents, raising new concerns about digital privacy protections for minors.
According to the complaint, the platform gathered sensitive data from users it could reasonably identify as children, including viewing behavior, voice inputs, and even precise location information. That data was then reportedly shared with advertisers and sold to data brokers, in some cases including firms already facing regulatory scrutiny for similar practices (such as Kochava).
The legal action was brought under the Florida Digital Bill of Rights (FDBR), which came into effect in July 2024. This law provides Florida residents with new rights over their personal information, including specific protections for minors. Among its provisions, it requires companies to obtain verified parental consent before processing or selling children’s data.
According to CyberNews, the lawsuit claims that the platform failed to implement standard industry mechanisms—such as user profiling or age-based identification—that would help distinguish between adult and child users. It highlights the company’s decision not to flag users who had enabled features like “Kids Screensaver” or “Kids Theme Pack” as potential minors.
Despite these clear signals, the data collection continued, and the company allegedly promoted privacy controls and opt-out tools that were either ineffective or misleading in their functionality.
The state alleges these practices not only breach privacy standards but also violate consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the level of control users have over their personal data. If found in violation of the FDBR, the platform could face fines of up to $50,000 per instance—an amount that may triple when the data involves minors.
This case reflects growing legal and regulatory pressure on digital platforms to strengthen protections for underage users, particularly as connected devices and streaming services become more deeply embedded in daily life. It also signals broader enforcement of newly enacted state-level privacy laws in the U.S., which are increasingly shaping how tech companies handle user data.
The original press release can be found here.
