Google, Twitter Sued in New Mexico COPPA Complaint Against App Maker

New Mexico sued Google and Twitter alongside a mobile app developer that the state alleged improperly shared children’s personal data with third parties, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. “When children play Tiny Lab’s gaming apps on their mobile devices, their geolocation, demographic characteristics, online activity, and other personal data, are inescapably -- and without verifiable parental consent -- exfiltrated to third parties and their marketing networks in order to target the children with advertisements based on their own personal information,” said Tuesday's complaint (in Pacer) at U.S. District Court for New Mexico. Google knows about and condones Tiny Lab’s illegal conduct by allowing its apps in the Play store, New Mexico said. Google and Twitter SDK was embedded in Tiny Lab’s Fun Kid Racing and other apps, the state said. "These apps can track where children live, play, and go to school with incredible precision,” Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) said Wednesday. “The unacceptable risk of data breach and access from third parties who seek to exploit and harm our children will not be tolerated.” Google took down Tiny Lab’s games on the Play store Tuesday and the game developer is “working to solve the issue as soon as possible,” Tiny Labs said. Tiny Labs isn’t violating COPPA, CEO Jonas Abromaitis wrote. The developer has an age gate to determine users’ age by asking their birthday per FTC guidelines, he said. No data is collected if the user is under age 13, he said. Google and Twitter didn’t comment.