[Updated] Disney+ demanding users to provide birthday & gender details to continue streaming faces backlash

Here’s the crux of the article in video form

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 16, 2022) follows:

Disney+ has a ton of fantastic new series premiering in November, led by Disenchanted, which will debut on November 18, 2022.

However, Disney+ subscribers are unhappy after a recent email that they received.

Disney+ demanding birthday and gender details

Recently, several users have expressed their confusion over Disney+’s request for their birthdate and gender details (1,2,3,4,5).

Many have received an email from Disney+ demanding them to provide their age or birthday and gender details before December 08, 2022. Subscribers won’t be allowed to use Disney+ any longer if they don’t comply.

The Disney+ user base has expressed displeasure with this decision because they believe it violates their privacy. They think that people shouldn’t be compelled to provide personal information that they aren’t comfortable sharing.

Most users have an understanding of why they are being asked for their age, but they are dumbfounded as to why they must reveal their gender in order to continue streaming.

@Disney @DisneyPlus Disney is now demanding ur gender & age and threatens to cut off ur disney+ if u refuse. I’ll do u one better. How abt I cancel my annual service 4 a full refund. I know u want demographics data but not by means of coercion.
Source

Why does @Disney+ require the account holder’s gender. What does that have to do with what watching. Age I understand but gender?
Source

In an FAQ, Disney has provided the reasons behind this move. The age or birthdate is necessary to verify that a user is 18 or older in order to target ads, personalize content, comply with age-related legal obligations, and more.

Additionally, they have clarified that subscribers will not be blocked from viewing any particular show or movie based on their birthdate. Only Parental Controls can be used to do that.

The Disney+ Subscriber Agreement requires you to be 18 years of age, or the age of majority in your state or territory of residence, to purchase Disney+. By collecting your birthdate and establishing a billing relationship with you (on our site or through a third party), we are confirming your eligibility for Disney+. We may also use your birthdate as described below under “Are there other ways you use my birthdate.”
Source

While providing a birthdate is mandatory for all Disney+ subscribers, they can use the ‘Prefer not to say’ option when registering their gender. Also, they can change it whenever they want to.

Furthermore, if you are using Disney+ on an iOS device running version 11, 12, or 13, you can get an unknown error message related to birthdate or gender collection.

Having said that, Disney could have reached out to its user base in a more open and transparent manner so that they wouldn’t have felt under pressure to disclose their private information.

06:28 pm (IST): In response to one of the tweets, Disney support has released the following statement with respect to the issue related to gender information:

Thanks for reaching out, Sarah! While gender is required for all Disney+ accounts and profiles set to 13 or above, all users have the option to select “Prefer not to say”. For now, we’ll be sure to share your feedback.
Source

08:30 pm (IST): Even though the official deadline to continue streaming without adding age or gender details was December 8, it looks like some users are being locked out of the streaming app already.

In response, Disney+ support claims that the user will be able to use the app once they enter their age and gender details.

To get back to streaming, you’ll need to update your profile information with your birthdate and select a gender identity. We hope this helps! (Source)

Disney support is also instructing users to either use the web or mobile app to enter their gender and age details.

You can add birthdate and gender on a profile at any time by visiting your Profile settings using a web browser or the mobile app:https://displ.us/AccountDisney (Source)

09:46 am (IST): It seems Disney+ isn’t just requiring the age and gender of the primary account owner. Reports indicate that they are also requesting that data for each of the account profiles (1, 2, 3).

02:57 pm (IST): A user claims that they switched to the annual plan to fix the issue where Disney Plus wasn’t letting them watch the content without providing their birthday details.

12:21 pm (IST): Disney Plus support has confirmed that gender info is not required for those users who are under 18 years. However, other users will have to provide gender details.

Hello! Disney+ requires a birthdate for all accounts to ensure the account holder is over 18. Gender is not required for profiles with birthdates under 18. This information helps us personalize your experience. (Source)

06:25 pm (IST): A user claims that they were restricted to use the app when they selected ‘I prefer not to say’ in the gender option.

However, they were able to access the app once they selected their gender.

06:35 pm (IST): Disney+ support has now switched up its response to complaints for having users enter age/gender info for kids.

They said that it is required as they may use it to comply with age-related legal obligations, provide personalized content, and more.

Thanks for reaching out about this! All Disney+ profiles require a birthdate, including those with Junior Mode experience enabled. We may use this info to comply with age-related legal obligations, personalize your content, experiences, and more. We hope this helps explain! (Source)

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Disney Section so be sure to follow them as well.

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