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 popular CTV app from the Amazon Fire TV and Roku Channel 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.
The gameplay screenshots for Kabillion show extensive animated content for preschoolers to school age. There are family-friendly classics, animated shorts, and kid-friendly favorites such as Thomas the Train, Cloudbabies, Sonic, and Transformers. There is evidence that the app is directed to children based on the age of the animated characters and the language in the app. The language in the app section says, ”all content is curated to create a safe environment for kids.”
Some advertisements pop up during the show such as a tv animation called pup tales. The ads are directed at children.
The app is a part of the Kids and Family and Game section of Roku as well as the App and Games section of Fire TV. Once the app is downloaded, it states that the content is directed to kids 2-11 years of age. The app opens for parents to select content groups such as featured, action, girl’s rules, and preschool. Once completed you choose which animation to play. There are reviews on the Fire TV app that show evidence that kids use the app. A review without age specification posted in September of 2019 says, “my toddler loves the shows.” Another review posted in December of 2016 says, “ my 3 year old enjoys.”
Privacy
The developer’s privacy policy says, “we do not knowingly collect personal data that can directly identify anyone under the age of 16.”
Screenshots of Kabillion
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.
