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.
The game is based on the cartoon series, “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. With five seasons of the show available on Disney+, this is a popular show with children from the age of around 4 upwards. The game uses Marinette, the Ladybug of the title, as the main character in the game. You control Marinette to run, jump and slide to collect ladybug coins and other goodies. As the game progresses you can unlock other characters, of which there are several. It’s an easy and compelling game with lots of features to keep it interesting.
The game has many different elements to it alongside the running levels. There are challenges to be found in each level, such as jumping over a certain number of obstacles or collecting a set number of coins. Another feature is the “Sticker Book”. Completing levels and challenges will give you stickers. Complete the sticker collection and you can unlock a special level. On top of this, there are characters to unlock (and there are many, many characters in the show). The Home Screen of the game allows you to see Prizes and Achievements that have been obtained, and which are still left to get. These incentives are firmly aimed at children, especially those such as the sticker book and the collection of familiar characters.
Privacy:
CrazyLabs state that they operate three categories of games:
Since Miraculous… does not have an age gate, I believe this game falls into the second category. The Privacy Policy does not provide a list of the apps so it is unclear whether CrazyLabs have themselves categorised their apps. However, they do have a Children’s Privacy Policy (“CPP”) which covers children up to the age of 16. Their CPP goes into detail to explain the types of data and information that may be collected from users of their child-directed apps, how it is collected, and why it is collected.
Screenshots of Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir
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.
