"Money makes the world go around'': Identifying Barriers to Better Privacy in Children's Apps From Developers' Perspectives

TL;DR

This study investigates the reasons behind children's apps' privacy issues from developers' perspectives, revealing that economic and guideline constraints hinder better privacy practices.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into developers' challenges and proposes directions to improve privacy in children's apps based on mixed-methods research.

Findings

Developers respect children's best interests but face monetization constraints.

Perceived harmlessness of third-party libraries influences data sharing.

Lack of clear design guidelines hampers privacy improvements.

Abstract

The industry for children's apps is thriving at the cost of children's privacy: these apps routinely disclose children's data to multiple data trackers and ad networks. As children spend increasing time online, such exposure accumulates to long-term privacy risks. In this paper, we used a mixed-methods approach to investigate why this is happening and how developers might change their practices. We base our analysis against 5 leading data protection frameworks that set out requirements and recommendations for data collection in children's apps. To understand developers' perspectives and constraints, we conducted 134 surveys and 20 semi-structured interviews with popular Android children's app developers. Our analysis revealed that developers largely respect children's best interests; however, they have to make compromises due to limited monetisation options, perceived harmlessness of certain third-party libraries, and lack of availability of design guidelines. We identified concrete approaches and directions for future research to help overcome these barriers.