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 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. 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.
Sonic is a video game character, popular with children. He also stars in a children's cartoon series on Netflix. Sonic games are also likely to appeal to adults who played the games as children. A number of the original Sonic games have been remade or re-released on newer consoles. Sonic Boom is a more recent game made for mobile platforms. The controls are slightly more complex than other endless-runner games, and require the player to attack enemies as well as dodging obstacles and collecting coins. However, it is simple enough for children to learn and an introductory tutorial ensures the players are familiar with the moves without using any lengthy written descriptions.
The user is rewarded for successfully covering further distances within the game, and treasure chests with coins and gems can be collected for when you run out of lives. As the game progresses, the player can start to add other Sonic characters to their team. This provides another strong source of motivation to continue playing. Users can also add friends who are also playing, and compete for high scores on the leaderboard.
Adverts run whenever the user runs out of lives, and are also available as an option to revive Sonic for another run. The adverts show a range of products, from Gas Safety engineers to children's puzzle games. The adverts appear to be directed at both adults and children separately, rather than at a general audience.
Privacy
Upon launching, the game requests the player's age. Players under 13 are allowed to proceed. We are then asked to read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. SEGA states that they do not knowingly collect or maintain personal data or non-personally identifiable information from minors other than as permitted by law in support of their internal operations. They do not explain what internal operations they would require data for.
Screenshots of Sonic Dash 2 - Sonic Boom:
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.
