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Student Privacy Compliance

At Banzai, we understand that our financial institution partners face immense scrutiny when supporting youth initiatives because you operate under strict consumer privacy mandates such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). As your Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) and compliance teams evaluate student data handling, we provide total assurance that minor and student data is handled defensively, legally, and transparently through the Banzai platform.

Student data privacy in the United States is governed by three major federal frameworks combined with a complex patchwork of over 121 state-level laws. Banzai is structurally designed to exceed these requirements, insulating your institution from compliance risk while maximizing classroom deployment for your sponsored schools.

The Three Core Federal Frameworks​

Federal laws establish the baseline mandates for student data collection, age verification, and institutional control. We maintain full compliance with all three to protect your institution's partnership.

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)​

What it does: Restricts how online services collect, use, and share personal data from children under the age of 13.

The 2026 Regulatory Status: Major FTC amendments to the COPPA Rule went into full effect on April 22, 2026. These rules mandate that edtech platforms maintain a formal, written information security program, enforce strict limits on data retention (explicitly banning indefinite data storage), and require separate, unbundled consent for any third-party tracking or behavioral profiling.

How we satisfy it: We utilize the School-Authorization Exception, allowing your sponsored schools and districts to provide consent on behalf of parents solely for educational purposes. We practice strict data minimization: Banzai does not collect student email addresses, full last names, or tracking metrics that could be used for commercial profiling.

FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)​

What it does: Protects the privacy of student education records and dictates how K-12 institutions share student data with outside digital vendors.

How we satisfy it: To process student data legally inside your classrooms, we operate under the "School Official Exception." Under this framework, Banzai acts strictly as a downstream data processor. The school district retains 100% legal ownership of all student records, and we are contractually forbidden from disclosing, sharing, or utilizing student records for any non-educational purpose.

PPRA (Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment)​

What it does: Governs student marketing, psychological surveys, and commercial analysis within the K-12 classroom. It ensures that the tools you sponsor do not turn classroom hours into a market research or consumer-profiling engine.

How we satisfy it: Our platform contains no commercial surveys, invasive testing, or marketing cross-selling targeted at students.

2. The State-Level Patchwork (121+ Distinct Laws)​

While federal laws provide a baseline, individual states have passed aggressive legislation to enforce digital student safety. There are currently more than 121 distinct state student privacy laws active across the United States.

SOPIPA (Student Online Personal Information Protection Act—California)​

What it does: Originally passed in California, SOPIPA serves as the national blueprint for state-level edtech privacy laws. It strictly prohibits edtech providers from selling student data, engaging in targeted behavioral advertising, or building consumer profiles on students for non-educational reasons.

State-Specific Escalations (e.g., Illinois' SOPPA, NY Ed Law 2-D)​

Many states build significantly on top of the SOPIPA foundation. For example, Illinois' SOPPA mandates strict 72-hour data breach notification timelines to districts and requires platforms to execute standardized Data Privacy Agreements (DPAs) directly with individual school boards. New York's Ed Law 2-D requires strict encryption standards and the appointment of dedicated Data Protection Officers by vendors.

How we protect you: We regularly review and sign individual district DPAs (including the National Data Privacy Agreement framework) to maintain seamless eligibility for your sponsored schools across all 50 states.

3. The Structural Baseline (Security & Accessibility)​

Compliance encompasses more than just privacy statutes; software platforms must meet rigorous technical and operational baselines to clear your internal IT reviews.

SOC 2 Compliance​

We recognize that your Risk Management and Information Security teams require independent, reliable cybersecurity audits. Banzai maintains a SOC 2 Type II certification, validating our use of enterprise-grade encryption (AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit), vulnerability testing, and strict data access controls.

Review our detailed SOC 2 Report to share directly with your internal security and audit teams.

WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 (ADA Accessibility)​

Under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), public school software must be accessible to students with diverse physical and cognitive needs. We build our platform to support screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, and precise high-contrast visual standards.

Review our ADA Compliance Overview and official Accessibility Statement to see how we ensure an inclusive educational experience in your community.

Our Compliance Guarantee to Your Institution​

For your institution's compliance file, committee, or internal audit team, our data posture centers on four key operational commitments to you:

  • Zero Commercial Monetization: We never sell, rent, lease, or monetize student data. We do not engage in targeted behavioral advertising, cross-selling, or student consumer profiling.
  • Strict Data Minimization: We collect only the bare minimum operational data needed to host the financial literacy simulation (e.g., no student email addresses, phone numbers, or full last names are required to play).
  • Turn-Key School Authorization: We manage the necessary FERPA, COPPA, and state-level data privacy alignments directly with educators and districts during classroom onboarding, removing the administrative burden from your staff.
  • Institution-Grade Security Baseline: Student and teacher data is hosted on highly secure, encrypted servers audited via independent SOC 2 Type II standards to meet your strict vendor risk profiles.

Downloadable Flier for Your Team​

A one-page Student Privacy Compliance Flier summarizing these privacy frameworks is currently in development. This asset is specifically tailored for you to distribute to school districts, superintendents, board packets, or compliance officers during your community outreach.