Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) was a former Walt Disney Company business segment (2018–2023) that housed Disney's streaming, advertising-sales, and linear/syndicated television operations before being folded into the successor segment Disney Entertainment in February 2023, as documented in Disney's own SEC filings and press releases. The broader Walt Disney Company privacy policy, which historically governed DMED's digital properties including Disney+, discloses extensive collection of identifiers, location, activity, and communications data, and states that it "sold," "shared," or processed for "targeted advertising" several categories of personal information with advertising, analytics, and data-augmentation partners. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission's 2025 COPPA enforcement action and a 2024 Slack-related data breach are documented, dated instances in Disney's public regulatory and incident record.
TRACK RECORD
2 ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
[2025-12-31]
On December 31, 2025, the FTC announced that a federal judge approved the $10 million settlement order against Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC, requiring Disney to comply with COPPA notice and consent requirements and implement a video-review program for child-directed content.
In September 2025 the FTC announced that Disney agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated the COPPA Rule by failing to properly label some YouTube videos as "Made for Kids," enabling collection of children's personal data without parental consent.
Disney's US State Privacy Rights notice discloses that personal information is sourced not only directly from guests but also from third-party sites/platforms, analytics tools, social networks, advertising networks, and third-party data providers that supplement information Disney already holds.
The Walt Disney Company's current privacy policy discloses that it collects location information (including precise or approximate location via device, IP address, or beacon technologies) and one-to-one or group message/chat content where legally permitted.
A Walt Disney Company SEC Form 10-Q filing states that in February 2023 the company announced it would be reorganized from segments including Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) into three new business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
Disney's own SEC Form S-3ASR filing describes the DMED segment as encompassing the company's global film and episodic television content production and distribution activities, including its streaming services, situating DMED clearly within The Walt Disney Company's corporate structure.
The Walt Disney Company's official press release on its 2023 strategic restructuring states that shared-service organizations including Product and Technology, Advertising Sales, and Platform Distribution would support the new Disney Entertainment and ESPN segments, documenting where DMED's former functions (including Disney+) were relocated.
Disney's US State Privacy Rights notice discloses that it "sold," "shared," or processed for "targeted advertising" categories of personal information—including identifiers, demographic information, commercial information, internet/network activity, and approximate geolocation—to business partners such as advertising, marketing, analytics, and audience-measurement providers, and to social networks.
The FTC's September 2025 complaint alleged that Disney's practice of designating YouTube video audiences at the channel level rather than per-video resulted in personal data from children under 13 being made available to YouTube's ad systems for targeted advertising without verifiable parental consent.
In July 2024, a hacking group breached The Walt Disney Company's internal Slack channels and leaked over 1 terabyte of data comprising more than 44 million messages, which reporting states included names and information of some Disneyland Resort guests and Disney Cruise Line crew members.
In September 2025 the FTC announced that Disney agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated the COPPA Rule by failing to properly label some YouTube videos as "Made for Kids," enabling collection of children's personal data without parental consent.
On December 31, 2025, the FTC announced that a federal judge approved the $10 million settlement order against Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC, requiring Disney to comply with COPPA notice and consent requirements and implement a video-review program for child-directed content.
A Walt Disney Company privacy notice for vendors and contractors describes the use of cookies and web beacons, stating that tracking data collected by advertisers and third parties is used to decide which ads a user sees on Disney's own sites and applications as well as on third-party sites.
The FTC's September 2025 complaint against Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC found that mislabeling of YouTube videos as not "Made for Kids" allowed the collection of personal data from children under 13 and the use of that data for targeted advertising to them.