On February 25, 2026, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a policy statement regarding the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA Rule”) aimed at promoting the use of age verification technologies. In the policy statement, the Commission announced that it would not pursue enforcement actions under the COPPA Rule against websites and online service operators that collect, use, and disclose personal information for the sole purpose of determining a user’s age. While the COPPA Rule requires certain online operators to notify parents of their information practices and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting, using, or sharing their personal information, the policy statement was intended to alleviate concerns that certain age verification technologies may violate the COPPA Rule by simply collecting age-verification information from children.
The policy statement specifically provides that the Commission will not commence enforcement actions under the COPPA Rule if the personal information of children is collected for the sole purpose of determining a user’s age. Age-verification information can be collected and used without notifying parents or obtaining parental consent provided that the following conditions are met:
- the information is not used or disclosed for any purpose other than to determine the user’s age;
- the information is not retained longer than necessary and is deleted promptly after use;
- disclosure of information is limited to third parties that the operator has determined to be capable of maintaining the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the information;
- parents and children are provided clear notice of the information to be collected for age verification purposes;
- reasonable security safeguards are employed to collect the information; and
- reasonable steps are taken to ensure that any product, service, method, or third party used is likely to provide reasonably accurate results regarding the user’s age.
The policy statement will remain in effect until a final rule amendment is published in the Federal Register or it is otherwise withdrawn. The FTC also announced that, in the coming months, it plans to initiate a review of the COPPA Rule to address age verification mechanisms.
FTC Press Release | Enforcement Policy Statement Promoting the Adoption of Age-Verification Technology