Compliance & regulatory
COPPA
US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act — under-13 data collection rules.
COPPA (15 USC §§ 6501–6506) restricts collection of personal information from children under 13 without verifiable parental consent. Largely irrelevant to most affiliate verticals because the audiences skew older — but matters for any kid-facing offer (gaming, app-installs, education) and for landing-page cookie practices on tablet-heavy households. FTC settlements have hit YouTube ($170M, 2019) and TikTok (multiple).
Example
Mobile-game UA campaign verifies all incoming clicks come from age-gated targeting and confirms its tracker doesn't store personal info on under-13 click-through — required to clear iOS App Store and Google Play eligibility.