Law / United States / 
Delaware
Delaware Online Privacy and Protection Act: marketing and advertising to children
Del. Code Ann. tit. 6, § 1204C
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
- Audit expectation
- none
As of .
What it requires
- If your website, online or cloud computing service, online application or mobile application is directed to children (targeted or intended to reach an audience composed predominantly of individuals under 18 who reside in Delaware), do not market or advertise on it any product or service listed in section 1204C(f), among them alcoholic liquor, tobacco products, tobacco substitutes, firearms and ammunition, fireworks, tanning equipment, lottery and internet gaming, tattoos, body piercing, drug paraphernalia and certain sexually oriented material that appeals to the prurient interest of minors.
- Whatever your audience, if you have actual knowledge that a child is using your service, do not market or advertise a listed product or service to that child when the marketing is directed to the child based upon information specific to that child, including the child's profile, activity, address or location sufficient to establish contact (but not an IP address or product identification numbers for the operation of a service); reasonable actions in good faith designed to avoid it count as compliance.
- If your service is directed to children, or you have actual knowledge that a child is using it, do not knowingly use, disclose or compile a child's personal information, or allow another person to, if you have actual knowledge that the child's personally identifiable information will be used to market or advertise a listed product or service to the child.
- If your service is directed to children and an advertising service provides its marketing or advertising, notify that advertising service, in the manner it directs, that your service is directed to children; you then need not comply with the marketing bar for that advertising.
- If you run an advertising service and an operator has notified you that its service is directed to children, do not market or advertise a listed product or service on that service.
- You are not required to collect age information about users, and the marketing bar does not apply to the incidental placement of products or services embedded in content that is not distributed by or at your direction primarily to market or advertise a listed product or service.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalty structure
Section 2522(b) of title 29 requires a court to order a person found to have committed a wilful violation, in a proceeding the Attorney General or the Director brings under section 2522(a), to pay the State a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation. Chapter 12C states no penalty of its own and names this subchapter for its enforcement in section 1203C.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 10,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Consumer Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice, which has enforcement authority over the chapter and may investigate and prosecute violations in accordance with subchapter II of chapter 25 of title 29 (6 Del. C. section 1203C).
What this law does
An operator of an internet website, online or cloud computing service, online application or mobile application directed to children may not market or advertise on it a product or service listed in subsection (f) of section 1204C. Children means individuals under the age of 18 who are residents of Delaware.
A service is directed to children when it is targeted or intended to reach an audience composed predominantly of children, and it is not directed to children solely because it refers or links to another service directed to children by using information location tools.
An operator that has actual knowledge that a child is using its service may not market or advertise a listed product or service to that child if the marketing or advertising is directed to the child based upon information specific to that child, and the operator is deemed to comply if it takes reasonable actions in good faith designed to avoid doing so.
An operator directed to children, or with actual knowledge that a child is using its service, shall not knowingly use, disclose or compile, or allow another person to use, disclose or compile, the child's personal information if it has actual knowledge that the information will be used for the purpose of marketing or advertising a listed product or service to the child.
An operator directed to children whose marketing or advertising is provided by an advertising service need not comply with the marketing bar for that advertising and must instead notify the advertising service that its service is directed to children. An advertising service that has received that notice may not market or advertise a listed product or service on the service directed to children.
The listed products and services include alcoholic liquor, tobacco products, tobacco substitutes, and firearms and ammunition, among others. The section does not require an operator to collect age information about users.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app serves under-18s.