Disney asks for your birthday primarily to comply with various age-related legal obligations across all its services and experiences. This essential information helps ensure a safe, appropriate, and legally compliant environment for all users, whether you're accessing Disney+ or engaging with other offerings within The Walt Disney Family of Companies.
Collecting your date of birth (and potentially the birthdays of other members of your household) allows Disney to:
- Fulfill Regulatory Requirements: Adhere to laws and regulations concerning online privacy and data collection for minors, such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States and similar global data protection laws (e.g., GDPR in Europe). These laws often dictate how companies can collect, use, and store personal information from individuals under a certain age, sometimes requiring parental consent.
- Provide Age-Appropriate Content: Verify your age to ensure you (and household members) are accessing content suitable for your age group. This is crucial for adhering to content rating guidelines and protecting younger viewers from inappropriate material.
- Manage Parental Controls and Profiles: Enable features like parental controls, restricted viewing modes, or child profiles where applicable. Knowing a user's age helps facilitate the necessary permissions and limitations that parents or guardians might set up for younger users.
- Enhance User Safety and Experience: Tailor the user experience to be safe and relevant, especially for children. For instance, specific features or advertising content might be restricted or modified for younger users to comply with legal mandates.
By collecting this demographic data, Disney ensures that its platforms and services align with legal mandates designed to protect users of all ages, maintaining a responsible and secure digital ecosystem.
For more information on how Disney handles personal data, you can review their official privacy policy here.
