Facebook Facing Class-Action Lawsuit Over Purchases By Kids

Published: March 13, 2015 6:54 PM /

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lawsuit3Facebook is not the first, and probably won't be the last, to get into legal trouble due to its "all sales final" return policy when it comes to kids purchasing in-game currency.

Despite the fact that Facebook has changed Facebook Credits to Facebook Payments, they are facing a huge class-action lawsuit estimated in the hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs by Facebook users who's children made unauthorized purchases on their bank account to pay for credits to play Facebook games.

U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman from San Jose, California opened the doors on Tuesday for the class-action lawsuit. Giving plaintiffs a box to voice their opinions on how Facebook should change their policy to allow refunds in the case of online transactions by kids. However, the lawsuit will be covered on a case-by-case basis, and will not be pursued as a group. The trial date has been set for October 19th. Facebook does not agree with the lawsuit, and believes that it lacks merit. But the Plaintiff's Lawyer is happy with the notion:

"We're very pleased with the decision, The difference between Facebook and other businesses is that the company is on actual notice of a user's age, but treats children the same as adult users when it comes to taking their money." The plaintiff Lawyer J.R. Parker told Routers in a phone interview
This is not the first time that an site got it trouble because of children's use of unauthorized payments. I have written before about how Apple got rid of its "Free" label due to pressure by the law, changing it to "get," after having to pay millions of dollars in a settlement. The same thing happened with Google not to long ago as well,  as the FTC forced them to pay out millions due to in-app purchases by minors.

In January, Facebook updated its payment terms, making it so that you have to be 18 years or older to use Facebook Payments, and even updated their policy, informing developers about how to handle returns and disputes.

What do you think of Facebook, along with Google and Apple face lawsuits due to their lack of policy about unauthorized payments by kids?

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Lucy
| Former Staff Writer

Lucy Walcott is a former TechRaptor writer who loves to talk about gaming. She has been an avid gamer since she was little, focusing almost exclusively on… More about Lucy