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Lawsuit Reveals How Facebook Profited Off Confused Children: Report (salon.com)
Documents outlining how Facebook profited off children are expected to be made public soon, according to Reveal News of the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), who requested the documents. From a report: In a report about the trove of previously-sealed documents, Reveal News explains that Facebook has previously faced lawsuits for failing to refund charges made by children playing games on Facebook. According to Reveal, the children did not know that their parent's credit card was stored on the platform when they clicked "buy," and in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of dollars were spent. In one case, the plaintiff, who is a child, spent several hundreds of dollars in just a few weeks. According to the report, more documents show "widespread confusion by children and their parents, who didn't understand Facebook continued to charge them as they played games."
...registers a credit card with facebook? Or a phone, for that matter. It is a trap, and idiots walk into it.
I'm confused. I've never been a Facebook member, but from what I understood it was a free platform funded by advertising. Why does Facebook have anyone's credit card on file in the first place?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Both Facebook and Google live by surreptitiously collecting data on you - data that you wouldn't tell them - and then selling it.
That's evil.
This has happened on Google Play and the Apple iTunes store. This seems more like a story of the lack of imagination on the part of Google/Apple/Facebook when it came to making purchases on a device where the user is a registered adult. As much as I hate Facebook, this isn't a unique problem to them. My guess is that right now, similar situations happen with the Nintendo Switch store, Xbox, PS4 and others. The real fault lies in a combination of the parents not monitoring or securing their phones, and the original settings that allowed you to save a password for those stores and not require it upon each purchase. Facebook is guilty of many many things, but this seems overhyped.
No beating around the bush, it is psychological abuse and theft getting childen into trouble.
I believe from the very beginning, Facebook's business social model was and continues to be mostly illegal. In the US, minors can't sign contracts. Any contract with a minor is considered 'null and void'. Therefore minors can not agree to any ELU (end user license agreement). Thus any data collect by the activity of a minor is illegally obtained.
I'm assuming Facebook must have their own payment system ... surely most FB users don't have a credit card on file with them?
OK, so for those who do ... why would you let your child play with your FB account then?
Do you let your children play with your Amazon account? Or your physical wallet?
Exactly. Stories have been around about this on the iphone for 6+ years: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-17/kids-racking-up-huge-bills-on-mobile-games/4266632
"Both Facebook and Google live by surreptitiously collecting data on you - data that you wouldn't tell them - and then selling it."
Mod parent UP! To +10. (Okay, 5.)
When I go to a bank website, often NoScript tells me there are links to Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and other Google services.
I think banks, medical facilities, and government entities should not be allowed to connect to web addresses they don't own.
Facebook declined the refunds calling the child "a whale." That pushes the behavior from being an accident to deliberate policy to take financial advantage of mistakes made by children, both a PR nightmare and illegal.
Here's your $2 coupon for a free slurpee. Thank you for playing
Why does Facebook have anyone's credit card on file in the first place?
If you read the first part of the article (ahem), it says:
The child, referred to as âoeI.B.â in the case, did not know the social media giant had stored his momâ(TM)s payment information. As he continued to play the game, Ninja Saga, Facebook continued to charge his momâ(TM)s credit card, racking up several hundred dollars in just a few weeks.
But unlike iOS or Android, where often kids overcharging without parents knowing about it and they get refunded, Facebook was apparently a lot less lenient about refunds.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
According to the report, more documents show "widespread confusion by children and their parents, who didn't understand Facebook continued to charge them as they played games."
Let me say it right away. I loathe Facebook, do not see [any] value in it and do not use it in any way.
But on the other hand, why should one blame FB for failing to understand it, or its business practices?
Who let these kids have access to the gadgets they used to access Facebook? Why blame FB for your failure to understand it? I just do not get it!
It's not the parents' fault. These companies were slow to add the concept of child accounts - accounts which had access to the apps purchased by the main account, but which had fewer privileges (including no purchase privilege). As a result, if you as a parent wanted to buy an app for your child's device, you had two choices. Either buy them on your account, and use your account on your child's device. Or buy them on your child's account (add your credit card info to their account). Both solutions end up with the child's device having access to purchase permission.
To be fair, the companies added the ability to require a passcode to be punched in before a purchase would go through. But then as you say, they also gave you the option to have the device remember the passcode so you wouldn't have to punch it in all the time.
Given that children are necessary for the species to survive, the proper solution is to allow child accounts. These are accounts which have access to apps purchased by the parent account, but which have no purchase privileges themselves. I can understand why the companies are reluctant to do it though - it means you can let your friends use the apps you buy by setting them up with a child account. Google added this capability a few years back (dunno about Facebook or Apple), but hasn't publicized it well. So many parents continue to use their main account on their children' devices.
I bitched at Microsoft Live for using the credit card number I gave them for Microsoft Live to let my daughter by Overwatch loot boxes without my permission, and they actually refunded my money -- but of course, I shut off my daughter's Microsoft Live after that. Yes, anybody offering in-game purchases should also offer parental controls, or face not getting paid -- children aren't legally able to enter into binding contracts.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Please, stop insulting children!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Uh, what excuses the parents from initially refusing to buy any Facebook apps for their children until Facebook comes to their senses about their unworkable revenue security model?
Man, I can't wait for the day when there's a consumer JARVIS who goes *cough* *cough* "you know, there's presently no way to purchase an app from Facebook that doesn't allow your children to make in-game purchases on your credit card."
Parent: "What, they don't even have a password or something."
JARVIS: "Well, they do, but on past history, I'd have to remember if for you."
Parent: "And you're designed by ... ?"
JARVIS: "Amazon Industries, one of the Amazon baby Bells. Why do you ask?"
Wow, that's a nice expensive digital baby sitter you have there.
Actually, it isn't. When my son was in daycare, it cost $800 per month. Facebook is way cheaper than that.
Honestly, people gave Facebook their credit card numbers?
Yes. In my case, my son needed it to buy some virtual Smurfberries. He bought two bushels for $5 each. There have never been any other charges.
Just shut it all down permanently, delete everything, and prevent anything like it from existing ever again, it is CANCEROUS.