United States of America: Announced settlement in FTC and DoJ lawsuit against Amazon for alleged violation of COPPA

On 19 July 2023, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced they reached a settlement with Amazon over violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule) and the FTC Act. According to the complaint, Amazon was accused of retaining children’s voice recordings indefinitely by default, making deceptive representations that Alexa app users could delete their children’s voice recordings, and engaging in unfair privacy practices concerning Alexa users’ geolocation information and voice recordings. As part of the settlement, Amazon is required to delete inactive child accounts, voice information, personal information, and geolocation information and make disclosures to consumers relating to its retention and deletion practices regarding Alexa App geolocation information and voice information. Finally, the settlement order requires Amazon to pay USD 25 million in civil penalties.