Andre Yoskowitz
13 Mar 2015 14:13
A federal judge has ruled that Facebook will face a class action lawsuit that contends the social media giant must pay refunds if children spend their parent's money on the website without permission.
The suit will likely have hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs asking Facebook to change the way online transactions by minors are handled. Refunds would be reviewed on a case to case basis.
Begun in 2012, the lawsuit said Facebook let children user their parent's credit cards to buy Facebook Credits and then refused refunds after complaints citing their "all sales are final" policy.
Two kids and their parents originally filed the suit. The first child said he was allowed to spend $20 to play the game 'Ninja Saga,' but he eventually spend hundreds of dollars confusing real money with in-game currency. The second child took his mother's debit card and spent $1059 without permission. Both were younger than 13 years old, the minimum age to have a Facebook account.
"We're very pleased with the decision," said J.R. Parker, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. "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."
Source:
Reuters