On August 25, 2021, New Mexico Attorney General (“AG”) Hector Balderas sued Rovio Entertainment (“Rovio” or the “Company”), the developer of the popular Angry Birds mobile app games, alleging that the Company violated the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) by knowingly collecting data from players under age 13 and sharing it with advertisers. Under COPPA, developers of child-directed apps are required to provide notice to parents of their data collection practices and obtain verifiable parental consent to collect personal information from children under 13.

The complaint alleges that data related to children under 13 who played the Angry Birds games was shared with third parties via software development kits (“SDKs”) embedded in the apps for purposes of targeted advertising. Further, the complaint alleges that Rovio failed to obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting and sharing children’s personal information via SDKs for this purpose. The AG also alleges that Rovio’s privacy policy “misleadingly” stated that the Angry Birds apps are not directed to children when Rovio was aware that children make up a significant portion of the games’ audience.

The case is New Mexico v. Rovio Entertainment Corp., D.N.M., No. 1:21-cv-824 (Aug. 25, 2021). Read the AG’s press release.