Happy 25th Anniversary ESRB Privacy Certified!

The State of Privacy

The world is more online now than ever, and parents know it. Many children’s lives exist equally online and in real life, with their academic and social lives straddling that “line.” Concern about what children are doing online, what information companies are collecting and using, and whether they are sharing it with others (like advertisers or AI companies), is understandable! Fortunately for parents, there are clear signals to help them make sure their kids’ information is being collected, used, and deleted appropriately.

This is a big part of why ESRB Privacy Certified (EPC) was created! April 19, 2026 marks 25 years since EPC (initially called “Privacy Online”) became one of the country’s first Federal Trade Commission (FTC)-sanctioned “Safe Harbors” under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA is a law designed to give parents control over the personal information companies collect and use from kids so they can help keep them safe online. But what exactly does being a COPPA Safe Harbor mean?

What is a “Safe Harbor” and Why is it Important?

Think of a Safe Harbor as a shield for a company’s products. The FTC can grant permission to organizations like ESRB Privacy Certified (EPC) to implement standards that provide “the same or greater protections for children” required under COPPA. If EPC certifies that a company’s privacy policies and practices for a game or toy meets those standards, the FTC considers it COPPA compliant.

In doing so, companies are effectively hiring EPC to inspect their products and work with them to ensure that they comply with COPPA (and other kids’ privacy protections) – and to go beyond the bare minimum. In practice, EPC does a lot more than that, but outlining everything would turn this celebratory blog into a textbook.

Under COPPA, companies generally may not collect personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent. Failing to do so incurs potentially massive fines. Indeed, some companies have paid millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars for COPPA violations and suffered lasting damage to their reputation, and the trust of the kids and parents they depend on.

However, if you went ahead and worked with EPC, they would ensure that you’re not only compliant with COPPA, but other applicable privacy laws and best practices all over the world… and there are a lot of them, again too many to explain in this birthday blog.

How Can You Tell If a Product Is EPC Certified?

ESRB Privacy Certified issues one of two “Seals” to products that are certified. This includes toy and video game-related websites, mobile apps, downloadable computer games, console settings, Internet of Things/connected devices, and other online or internet-connected services.

The two seals are:

ESRB Privacy Certified Seal (General Seal) for online products services aimed at adults, including those used by teens
- Seeing this Seal on a product or service’s privacy policy, footer, etc. lets you know at a glance that EPC has examined and certified that the product meets all of the program’s requirements and uses strong, transparent, and responsible privacy practices.
ESRB Privacy Certified Kids Seal (Kids Seal) for online products or services directed or targeted to children
- This Seal signals to parents that a product complies with COPPA’s strict rules on collecting, using, sharing, and storing personal information belonging to children under the age of 13.For a list of digital products and online that have received ESRB’s Kids Seal certification, see the COPPA-Certified page of our website.

Into the Future

Data privacy and security is an increasingly important issue among consumers, especially parents. Children may not have the life experience to instinctually understand why they need a parent’s permission to sign up for a new online game or service and give them their email address, mobile phone number, street address, or other personal information. And they may not always think twice before sharing that information with other players inside a game or other online experience. That’s why COPPA requires companies to explain their data privacy practices to parents and to provide their consent for data collection and for data sharing. Of course, it’s vital that children don’t lie about their age or defeat age assurance mechanisms when registering for a game or service. Making sure kids tell the truth about their age keeps parents in the loop and helps to ensure that kids’ personal information stays private.

We always recommend explaining to children why these things are vitally important (again, especially telling the truth about their age!). And fortunately, parents can keep an eye out for the ESRB Privacy Certified Seals for speedy confirmation that a product collects and manages data in the most privacy-protective way possible.

Happy 25th anniversary EPC! Wishing many more to come!

Patricia E. Vance is the president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). In her position, she leads the teams responsible for assigning age and content ratings to video games and apps, enforcing marketing guidelines adopted by the video game industry, and operating ESRB Privacy Certified, an FTC-sanctioned COPPA Safe Harbor Privacy seal certification program.