Children’s Privacy Policy

Last Modified: 2/7/23

Please Read This Children's Privacy Policy Carefully Before Allowing
Your Children to Use the Sanrio.com Site

Sanrio, Inc. ("Sanrio," "we," "us", "our") provides www.sanrio.com (the "Site"). We at Sanrio are dedicated to safeguarding your children's privacy. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") requires us to inform parents and legal guardians about how we collect, use, and disclose personal information collected online from children under the age of thirteen and that we obtain parental consent before we allow children under the age of thirteen to use certain features of the Site. The term "parent" as used in this policy includes legal guardians. The term "child" as used in this policy means a child who is under the age of thirteen. Other capitalized terms used in this policy are defined in our Privacy Policy, which can be found at https://www.sanrio.com/pages/privacy-policy/

To make the Site safe and fun for children, we have adopted the following policies and practices.

1. What Information is Collected from Children?

Children can explore the Site, view and print content, and play many games without providing to us any "Personally Identifiable Information" (i.e., Information that can be used to identify or contact the child. Personally Identifiable Information includes information such as full name, home address, telephone number and e-mail address). We do not condition children's participation in online activities on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary for a child to engage in any particular activity. If children do not create an account, subscribe to e-mail newsletters, send e-cards or e-mail to friends, or participate in polls and surveys that request Personally Identifiable Information on or through the Site, the only information we collect will be "Non-Personally Identifiable Information" (i.e., Information that cannot be used to identify or contact the child). If, however, children choose to create an account, subscribe to e-mail newsletters, send e-cards or e-mail to friends, or participate in online polls that request Personally Identifiable Information, we may require them to submit Personally Identifiable Information as described below. Before they are permitted to do so, we will obtain verifiable parental consent, such as through a form that must be printed, signed by the child's parent, and returned to us.

(a) Subscribing to Newsletters. When children subscribe to our "Hello Kitty's Sweet Happy News" e-mail newsletter or other newsletters, we may ask for their first and last name, e-mail address, country of residence, age, gender, favorite Sanrio character, and/or products of interest. We use this information to appropriately target the newsletter to the child.

(b) Sending E-Cards and E-Mailing Art to a Friend. Children can send an electronic postcard ("e-card") or e-mail art to a friend using our Post Office. We may ask for a first name and e-mail address, and we may also ask for Personally Identifiable Information about the intended recipient, like a first name and e-mail address.

(c) Participating in Online Polls. Sanrio may, from time to time, utilize online polls. If the poll requests or permits a child to provide Personally Identifiable Information, we will first obtain verifiable parental consent. Some polls may request only information that is not personally identifiable (such as first name only, city or state of residence, age, gender, or favorite Sanrio character), in which case, we will not obtain verifiable parental consent.

When children known by us to be under thirteen participate in a Site activity that requires or permits the collection of Personally Identifiable Information, we may also ask for information such as a parent's name and e-mail address in order to obtain verifiable parental consent.

Please refer to our general Privacy Policy for a description of the non-personal information that we collect on the Site. We do not combine such non-personal information with any Personally Identifiable Information.

2. How Information Collected from Children is Used and Shared

We use Personally Identifiable Information collected in connection with child-directed activities for internal purposes only, such as to distribute an online newsletter, to enable children to send e-cards or e-mail to friends, or to allow children to participate in online polls or surveys.

(a) Subscribing to Newsletters. Sanrio uses contact information collected during subscription to send children the newsletter, which includes marketing content. A child may opt out of receiving the newsletter by following the unsubscribe instructions contained within it.

(b) Sending E-Cards and E-Mailing Art to a Friend. When children provide information to send an e-card or e-mail art to a friend, Sanrio will only use the information given to send the e-card or e-mail and will not retain the information after the e-card or e-mail is sent.

(c) Participating in Online Polls. Sanrio may share aggregate information about our users with our advertising partners, such as that gathered from online polls. We need to do this so that our advertising partners can target their advertisements at the right audiences. Please note, however, that we do not give any Personally Identifiable Information collected from children to any of our advertising partners.

(d) Communications with Sanrio. When children send an e-mail message to or otherwise contact Sanrio, we use the information solely to respond, and then we delete it.

We do not disclose any Personally Identifiable Information collected from children to any third parties except (a) with a parent's written permission, (b) as required by any applicable law, (c) to our operations and maintenance contractors, under the terms set forth below; or (d) as permitted by COPPA, such as in the event of a physical threat to a child. Sanrio operations and maintenance contractors sometimes have limited access to Personally Identifiable Information in the course of providing products or services to Sanrio. These contractors include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content related to better operation and maintenance of the Site. Access to Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for Sanrio. We also contractually require that our operations and maintenance contractors not use or disclose this Personally Identifiable Information for any purpose other than providing us with products and services, and that they secure this Personally Identifiable Information with safeguards equivalent to our own safeguards.

3. Linked Sites

Please be aware that when children click on certain links or advertising banners on our site, they may be linked to sites which are not operated by us ("Third Party Sites"). Sanrio does not endorse and is not responsible for the privacy practices of these Third Party Sites. We strongly recommend that you review the privacy policy statements of those Third Party Sites which collect information from your children. Sanrio does not disclose children's Personally Identifiable Information to these Third Party Sites without obtaining a parent's consent.

4. We Notify and Obtain Consent from Parents for the Collection of Personally Identifiable Information From Their Children

We are required by COPPA to use reasonable efforts to ensure that before Personally Identifiable Information is collected from a child, a parent of the child receives notice of and consents to our information practices. Subject to certain limited exceptions permitted by COPPA, children under the age of 13 may participate in Site activities that require us to collect Personally Identifiable Information from them only with the verifiable consent of a parent or legal guardian. We may obtain verifiable parental consent in various ways, such as through a form that must be printed, signed by the child's parent, and returned to us.

5. How Parents can Access and/or Delete Personally Identifiable Information About Their Children

Parents have the right to access and/or delete any Personally Identifiable Information collected by us online from their children, and to refuse at any time to permit us to collect further such information from their children. A parent may exercise these rights by e-mailing customercare@sanrio.com. Please include the child's member name and the parent's e-mail address in the e-mail.

For children subscribing to the "Hello Kitty's Sweet Happy News" e-mail newsletter, a link to our communications preference center is included at the end of each newsletter. If you would like to unsubscribe your child from the newsletter or change any information, please follow the link at the end of the newsletter, or send an e-mail request to customercare@sanrio.com. Be sure to include the e-mail address you want removed or changed.

6. Policy Changes

Your family's use of the Site is conditioned on your acceptance of the policies and terms set forth in this Children's Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to amend this policy at any time, and only the current policy may be deemed effective. We will provide appropriate notice to you in the event that we materially change the way we collect, use, and/or disclose children's Personally Identifiable Information. Your family's continued use of this site is conditioned on your acceptance of any modifications hereto.

7. Questions, Comments, or Concerns

If you have questions, comments or concerns about any of our privacy policies or practices, or to raise any other issue, please e-mail us at privacystandards@sanrio.com. You may also contact us at: Sanrio, Inc., 2050 W 190th St, Suite 205, Torrance, CA 90504, or call us at (800) 759-6454.

Before using this site, please also read our Terms of Service and our general Privacy Policy.