Children’s Advertising Review Unit

The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), the nation’s first Safe Harbor Program under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), helps companies comply with laws and guidelines that protect children from deceptive or inappropriate advertising and ensure that, in an online environment, children's data is collected and handled responsibly. When advertising or data collection practices are misleading, inappropriate, or inconsistent with laws and guidelines, CARU seeks change through the voluntary cooperation of companies and where relevant, enforcement action.

Program Impact

CARU was established in 1974 to support self-regulation in the advertising industry and promote responsible advertising to children. The results of CARU’s work is available to the public.

Monitoring and Enforcement

CARU monitors child-directed media to ensure that advertising is truthful, accurate, appropriate, and compliant with its self-regulatory guidelines, and that online marketing is compliant with both the CARU guidelines and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).

Pre-Screening Service

From concept to final cut, CARU’s pre-screening services help businesses and agencies spot and correct problems before ads and promotional websites go live. Take advantage of our one-on-one support as you navigate COPPA and CARU compliance.

COPPA Safe Harbor Services

CARU is the first FTC-approved Safe Harbor Program under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and can help your company achieve its business goals while ensuring compliance with COPPA requirements, other applicable online data privacy laws, and CARU’s guidelines.

CARU Supporters have access to benefits and resources including:

Access to CARU experts to answer your questions about advertising and privacy issues directed to children

Advertising pre-screening and guidance from expert staff

Invitation to the annual Supporters’ Council Meeting to discuss industry challenges

20% discount on Safe Harbor Program services

Special rates for CARU conferences and events

Guidelines & Procedures

CARU leads the development and ongoing management of advertising guidelines for children (defined as individuals age 12 or younger). To help businesses and advertisers, CARU provides education, one-on-one support, and legal guidance on:

How to be compliant in the delivery of everything from digital ads to product packaging
The art of delivering for an impressionable and vulnerable child audience
Children’s privacy, unique to digital content and data collection for children age 12 and under (these guidelines reflect changes in COPPA)
How to approach product presentations, appropriate disclosures, sweepstakes and contests, safety, endorsements, and sales pressure

COPPA Comments to the FTC

Letter to the FTC

File a Complaint/Challenge

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News & Blog

Decision

Two of BBB National Programs’ Self-Regulatory Watchdogs Bring Azerion Gaming Website and App into Compliance with Privacy Best Practices

McLean, VA – March 9, 2021 – Two self-regulatory watchdog units of BBB National Programs, the Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP) and the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), today released the result of a new data privacy case for the children’s gaming site Girls Go Games and the...

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Blog

A Beginner's Guide to Reading Privacy Policies

Privacy policies are complicated and can be frustrating to read, especially when you are trying to learn about your child's data privacy online. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) reviews child-directed online environments to ensure that children’s data is collected and handled responsibly. As a parent, follow these steps to take a proactive role in your child’s data privacy, using privacy policies as your guide to better understand an online service’s data collection practices.

Blog

“Make Every Bite Count” When Feeding the Youngest Consumers

The recently updated 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) ask us to “make every bite count.” This is an important message in a year when parents have faced challenges on so many fronts, including cooking for their families and eating at home more often than pre-pandemic. For parents feeding very young children, timely guidance in the form of the latest edition of the DGAs arrived at the end of 2020 when, for the first time, they addressed the diets of infants and toddlers.

Blog

Behind the seal: What does it mean to be a CARU Safe Harbor company?

When the Children’s Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) passed in 1998, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began to approve industry groups to administer an independent, self-regulatory program that implements protections for children as outlined in the COPPA Rule. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) was the first such group in the U.S. to receive FTC approval. Learn more about what's behind the CARU Safe Harbor seal.

CARU 2021 Annual Conference

The CARU 2021 Virtual Conference, hosted by BBB National Programs’ Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), convenes child-directed advertising and children’s privacy experts to help you learn how t ...

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Jun 08, 2021 Virtual