Sign in

Children's Privacy & Safety

Built Safe. Kept Safe.

Play and Learn with David is a family learning platform designed from the ground up to protect children. Every feature — from private profiles and parent-gated friendships to real-time message scanning and instant parent alerts — is designed around one principle: children come first.

No Advertising to Children — Ever

Children on Play and Learn with David never see advertisements. When a child is logged in, all advertising slots across every page of the platform are automatically suppressed in code — not just as a policy, but as an enforced system rule.

We run a small number of in-house ads sold directly by Play and Learn with David to vetted, family-appropriate sponsors. These are shown only to logged-in parents in parent-facing areas of the site. Sponsors pay for a placement slot — they receive no user data, no behavioural profiles, and no information about children or parents. We do not use any advertising network, data broker, or programmatic ad exchange.

Our Live Safety Systems

These are not policies — they are working systems running on this platform right now.

🤖 Real-Time Chat Safety Filter

Every message a child sends is scanned before it is delivered. The filter detects and blocks 12 categories of personal information, including:

  • Phone numbers
  • Home and street addresses
  • School names and classroom details
  • GPS coordinates
  • Social media usernames and gaming IDs
  • Meeting arrangements ("meet me at...")
  • Full names, email addresses, and daily schedules

A blocked message is never delivered. The child sees a friendly, educational reminder. No message text is ever stored — only a hash and the category of what was detected are recorded in the log.

📧 Instant Parent Alerts

High-severity filter events — meeting arrangements, phone numbers, and home addresses — trigger an immediate email to the child's parent. The alert names exactly what was detected and links directly to the parent safety dashboard. Alerts are rate-limited so parents are not flooded during a single session.

📋 Parent Safety Dashboard

Parents see a complete, read-only log of all safety filter events across their children's accounts on their dashboard. Each entry shows the category, severity level (High / Medium / Low), when it happened, and whether a parent email was sent. Parents can delete entries at any time. The log is visible only to the child's own parent — never to other users or other families.

👨‍👩‍👧 Parent-First Account Model

Children cannot create accounts. Every account begins with a parent:

  • A parent enters their email to request an invitation link.
  • The link is sent to that email address — it cannot be accessed without opening the email.
  • On account creation, the parent confirms they are 18 years of age or older and agrees to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
  • Only then can child profiles be created, each managed entirely by the parent.

Every friendship request requires explicit parent approval before any chat is possible. Children can only message approved friends — strangers cannot contact your child.

🔑 Secure Authentication

Parent accounts are protected by industry-standard security measures:

  • Bcrypt-hashed passwords — we never store plain-text passwords.
  • CSRF token protection on all forms.
  • Cloudflare Turnstile invisible captcha on sign-up to block bots.
  • Honeypot spam traps on registration and contact forms.
  • StopForumSpam database checked on registration.
  • Optional 2-step email verification (admin can make it required).
  • Forgot password resets send a time-limited link — no security questions, no guessable answers.

COPPA Compliance

We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Children under 13 may only use Play and Learn with David through a parent or legal guardian's account. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children. If you believe a child has created an account without parental consent, please contact us immediately and we will delete the account.

What We Collect About Children

We collect the minimum information necessary to provide the educational experience:

  • A first name or nickname (chosen by the parent — not a full name).
  • Age or birth year (to serve age-appropriate content).
  • A chosen avatar image.
  • Learning progress: lesson completions, game scores, badges earned, and points balance.
  • Chat messages sent to approved friends or within group chats.

We do not collect a child's full name, home address, phone number, precise location, school name, or any other personally identifying information beyond what is listed above.

What We Do Not Do

  • We do not sell children's data to anyone — ever.
  • We do not share children's data with advertisers, data brokers, or analytics companies.
  • We do not collect location data.
  • We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party tracking.
  • We do not build behavioural profiles of children.
  • We do not allow strangers to contact children.
  • We do not store blocked message text — only a hash and category.

Parent Controls

Parents have full, ongoing control over their children's experience:

  • Safety log: view all safety filter events for each child from the dashboard.
  • Chat history: review messages and manage friend connections from Account Settings.
  • Friend management: approve, deny, or remove friend connections at any time.
  • Delete child profile: removes all data for that child immediately — progress, chat, badges, points.
  • Delete parent account: removes everything. See our Data Deletion page.
  • Data download: export all your family's data from Account Settings.

Admin Moderation

Platform administrators can review safety log trends, delete messages, dissolve friendships, and ban profiles from chat. All moderation actions are logged. Parents are notified of any enforcement action on their child's account.

How to Report a Safety Concern

If you see inappropriate behaviour, receive an alarming message, or have any other concern, report it immediately using our Contact form — select the Report Abuse or Privacy & Safety department. We take all reports seriously and respond within 24 hours.

We Never Share Children's Data

We never share, sell, or disclose children's personal data to third parties for commercial purposes. Payment processors (Stripe, PayPal) and our email provider have no access to child profile data.

Last reviewed: 2026