Yelp recently settled allegations made by the FTC that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule, and has agreed to pay a $450,000 civil penalty for the violation, according to an FTC press release. The Yelp case underscores that online services that ask for users’ ages in the registration process will be deemed as having “actual knowledge” of that information. Therefore, whether a site is directed to children or not, a registration process including an age field effectively turns the process into an “age filter,” and may put the site at risk of violating COPPA. For more information on this case, please read our recent client alert authored by John Feldman.