Welcome to Pixalate’s CTV & Mobile App Manual Reviews According to COPPA, a series containing the detailed factors the Trust & Safety Advisory Board educators used to assess an app’s child-directedness.
The educators manually review thousands of mobile apps available in the Google Play & Apple App Stores as well as connected TV (CTV) apps from the Roku Channel Store and Amazon Fire TV App Store using the COPPA Rule factors shown below & make those results available to the public at ratings.pixalate.com.
This post takes a look at a game which is available from the Google Play & Apple App Stores. Our reviewer discusses how the subjective factors set forth in the COPPA Rule apply to the app and factor into the reviewer's determination as to whether the app is child-directed or general audience (i.e., it is not targeting children).
The teacher will indicate the factors they relied upon in their assessment using the 10 factors shown below that reflect the 10 child-directed factors in the COPPA Rule.
Farm themes are generally appealing to children. From the machinery to the animals, farming is an enduring theme in children’s books and songs. The animation and styling of FarmVille 3 are appealing to younger players. The gameplay features lots of writing, either as instructions or dialogue from characters, but it is easy to proceed through the game without reading these. There are plenty of arrows and other means of focusing the player on the next point of progression. These make it accessible for players of all ages.
When launching Farmville 3, the user is asked to confirm which age group they fall into. The youngest age bracket is 13-17, but choosing that option leads to the message “You cannot play Farmville 3 due to current age restrictions in your country or region”. There is a wait of 24 hours before a different selection can be made.
Privacy:
The Zynga Privacy Policy includes details of their approach to children’s privacy. They state that their apps are mostly aimed at a general audience and that they do not collect information from children under 13.
Screenshots of FarmVille 3 – Farm Animals
Pixalate’s Trust and Safety Advisory Board was created to bring in individuals with experience using child-directed apps in the classroom to review and assess which apps are child-directed. This manual review process serves to quality check Pixalate’s automated review process. See our full methodology for more information.
Disclaimer
This blog post published by Pixalate is available for informational purposes only and is not considered legal advice. By viewing this blog post, the reader understands and agrees that there is no attorney-client relationship between the reader and the blog publisher. The blog should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in the applicable jurisdiction(s), and readers are urged to consult their own legal counsel on any specific legal questions concerning any specific situation. The content of this blog post reflects Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees; and this blog post is not intended to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but instead, to report findings pertaining to mobile and Connected TV (CTV) apps.
