Weight watching for children? WW to pay US$1.5M penalty as it disputes “illegal” data gathering

07 Mar 2022 --- WW International – formerly known as Weight Watchers – has come under fire from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly illegally collecting personal information from children. 

The settlement now requires WW and its subsidiary, Kurbo, to pay a US$1.5 million penalty. They must also delete personal information illegally collected from children under 13 and destroy any algorithms derived from the data.

However, Michael Colosi, Kurbo executive, tells NutritionInsight that this settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing. 

“At no time did Kurbo ever target children with advertising, sell data to third parties or otherwise monetize its users in any way. Furthermore, no parents or children ever complained that Kurbo used their personal data in an inappropriate manner.” 

Tracking key information
Kurbo by WW is a health and wellness app and website designed for children and teenagers over the age of eight, as well as their families. 

Colosi describes it as a scientifically-proven, family-based healthy lifestyle program derived from Stanford University’s Pediatric Weight Control Program. 

The app tracks their food intake, activity and weight, and also collects personal information such as names, email addresses and birth dates. 

“Data collected in Kurbo’s paid counseling program is used in strict compliance with parental consent solely to help children learn better eating habits. The limited information received in the free app experience was designed to be collected in an anonymous environment and used solely for the purpose of helping the users develop better eating habits,” says Colosi.The COPPA rule requires that online services that collect personal information from children notify parents and get their consent. 

“Ill-gotten” data?
However, FTC’s chair Lina Khan argues WW and Kurbo marketed weight management services for use by children as young as eight, and then illegally harvested their personal and sensitive health information.

“Our order against these companies requires them to delete their ill-gotten data, destroy any algorithms derived from it, and pay a penalty for their lawbreaking,” continues Khan. 

“While Kurbo disputes that its historical practices violated the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), in every instance where the FTC staff indicated a possible compliance gap, Kurbo promptly took action to correct it,” states Colosi.

The settlement order now requires the companies destroy all personal information previously collected that did not comply with the COPPA rule and consent requirements, unless the companies’ obtained subsequent parental consent to retain such data. 

The settlement also requires the companies to destroy any affected work product that used data illegally collected from children in violation of COPPA.

Encouraging false claims?
Until late 2019, users could sign up for Kurbo by WW’s service either on the app or website by indicating that they were a parent signing up for their child or a child over the age of 13 signing up for themselves, notes the FTC. 

The complaint alleged that Kurbo by WW’s sign-up process encouraged younger users to falsely claim they were over the age of 13, despite text indicating that children under 13 must sign up through a parent.

Notably, from 2014 to 2019, hundreds of users who signed up for the app claiming to be over the age of 13 later changed their birthdates on their profiles to indicate they were really under 13, according to the complaint. These users nonetheless continued to have access to the app until FTC staff contacted the companies.The Kurbo program is used by thousands of families and is backed by 30 years of research. 

A right to consent
According to the FTC, the sign-up option for teenagers was revised in 2020. However, the complaint notes that problems remained. 

Kurbo also failed to provide a mechanism to ensure that those who chose the parent sign-up option were indeed parents and not a child trying to bypass the age restriction, the complaint alleged.

In addition, the complaint alleged that parents who signed their children up on the company’s website or an affiliate’s website were shown a notice about information collection only if they clicked a hyperlink buried in a string of other links. 

Despite changes made to its direct privacy notice in 2019, Kurbo by WW still failed to comply with COPPA rule’s notice requirements, according to the complaint.

“Parents have a right to know and consent before companies collect their children’s personal information,” says Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s civil division. 

“The department is committed to enforcing the protections against unauthorized collection of information from consumers, particularly children,” he concludes. 

Personalized apps remain popular
This case comes at a time when many consumers are becoming wary of how their personal information is used. Personalized nutrition is especially in the spotlight, owing to the richness of the data gathered. 

Nonetheless, the personalized app scene is booming, with companies like Abbott continuing to develop biowearables that offer a “window to the body.” 

Last week, Dutch researchers announced DietBot, which will provide fully automated and personalized dietary advice.

By Katherine Durrell