California Attorney General Rob Bonta has reached a 2.75 million dollar settlement with the Walt Disney Company following allegations that it failed to honor consumer requests to opt out of data sharing. The settlement requires Disney to overhaul its privacy systems to ensure that a single opt-out request effectively applies to all devices and services linked to a user's account.
The legal action followed an investigation by the California Department of Justice which discovered that Disney's privacy protocols did not meet the standards set by the California Consumer Privacy Act. Officials found that even when consumers were logged into their accounts and explicitly requested to stop the sale or sharing of their personal information, Disney continued to distribute data through various gaps in its system. Attorney General Bonta emphasized that businesses are legally required to provide a seamless opt-out process that follows the user across all platforms rather than forcing them to manage settings on every individual device.
One of the primary issues identified was the company's use of opt-out toggles within its apps and websites. When a user flipped a switch to protect their privacy, Disney often only applied that preference to the specific device or the individual streaming service being used at that moment. This meant that a consumer’s data could still be sold or shared if they accessed Disney content through a different television, tablet, or separate subscription service associated with the same account.
The investigation also highlighted failures regarding Disney’s online webform and its handling of the Global Privacy Control. Users who submitted formal requests through the website found that Disney only stopped sharing data through its internal advertising platforms while continuing to provide information to third-party ad-tech companies. Furthermore, Disney failed to provide integrated privacy tools within many of its television apps, instead redirecting users to web links that did not effectively stop data sharing from the television itself.
In addition to the financial penalty, the settlement mandates that Disney implement a comprehensive system to synchronize privacy preferences. Under the new requirements, if a customer opts out while logged into their account, Disney must ensure that the request is honored across its entire ecosystem. This includes respecting universal signals like the Global Privacy Control for logged-in users, ensuring that a single click provides the privacy protection that California law guarantees.
Source: California AG Bonta Announces $2.75M Disney Settlement in Landmark CCPA Case