Coursera · Coursera Terms of Use

Age Restriction and Minors

Medium severity
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What it is

Children under 13 are not allowed to use Coursera, and if the company discovers a child's data was collected without parental consent, it will delete that information.

Consumer impact (what this means for users)

If a child under 13 creates a Coursera account without parental consent, their personal data — including learning activity and contact information — may be collected before deletion procedures are triggered, creating a privacy risk for minors.

Cross-platform context

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Why it matters (compliance & risk perspective)

This clause is required by COPPA but relies on self-reporting; there is no robust age verification mechanism described, which could expose young users' data if they misrepresent their age.

View original clause language
The Services are not directed to children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use or access the Services at any time or in any manner. If Coursera learns that personally identifiable information has been collected on the Services from persons under 13 years of age and without verifiable parental consent, then Coursera will take the appropriate steps to delete this information.

Institutional analysis (Compliance & legal intelligence)

1) REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: This provision directly implicates COPPA (15 U.S.C. § 6501-6506) and the FTC's COPPA Rule (16 C.F.R. Part 312), which require verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. The FTC is the primary enforcement authority. In the EU, GDPR Art. 8 sets the age of digital consent at 16 (with member states permitted to lower it to 13), and the UK Children's Code (Age Appropriate Design Code) imposes additional design and data minimization requirements for services likely accessed by minors. 2)

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Applicable agencies

  • FTC
    The FTC enforces COPPA, which requires verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13 on online platforms.
    File a complaint →
  • Doe
    The DOE enforces FERPA where Coursera processes student education records on behalf of institutional partners, including in contexts involving minors.
    File a complaint →

Provision details

Document information
Document
Coursera Terms of Use
Entity
Coursera
Document last updated
April 29, 2026
Tracking information
First tracked
April 18, 2026
Last verified
April 18, 2026
Record ID
CA-P-002850
Document ID
CA-D-00157
Evidence Provenance
Source URL
Wayback Machine
SHA-256
d67cd5c44e1912191635fd8b7e2198b45b8ec6ab8725f8a00753d9335a136c85
Verified
✓ Snapshot stored   ✓ Change verified
How to Cite
ConductAtlas Policy Archive
Entity: Coursera | Document: Coursera Terms of Use | Record: CA-P-002850
Captured: 2026-04-18 10:12:56 UTC | SHA-256: d67cd5c44e191219…
URL: https://conductatlas.com/platform/coursera/coursera-terms-of-use/age-restriction-and-minors/
Accessed: May 2, 2026
Classification
Severity
Medium
Categories

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