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Facebook has been accused of deliberately targeting children to make purchases in the game, earning income at the expense of children and their parents.
According to Reveal (via Reddit), which allegedly obtained court documents from a clbad action lawsuit filed by a US District Court Judge at the beginning of the month, Facebook orchestrated a campaign to get kids and their parents to pay. Thousands of dollars maximize profits for games like Angry Birds, PetVille and Ninja Saga. Facebook had until January 24 to make public some of the court documents – which range from 2010 to 2014.
Calling this practice "friendly fraud" and apparently ignoring the efforts of its own staff to protect vulnerable users, children were encouraged to make purchases without their parents' permission, while in other cases they were not allowed to do so. Were not even really aware that they were spending "real" money at all. And in cases where children had hoarded huge expenses, such as $ 6,500 in one case, Facebook's employees had been asked to refuse claims, calling the children "whales" the same term used by the gaming industry to denigrate big spenders.
Despite the refusal of repayment, many parents sued the US Better Business Bureau, claiming that the Federal Trade Commission "typically signals" such a company for what Reveal calls "deceptive marketing practices." By badyzing his own data from 12 October 2010 to 12 January 2011, he estimated that the children had "spent not less than $ 3.6 million" in this single three-month period, but that more than 9% of the money was recovered by the credit card. companies. The average corporate chargeback rate is 0.5% and 1% is considered "high". 2 percent thought to be a "red" indicator of a "misleading" business.
Stewart, a Facebook employee, said in July 2011 that "if the developers are really concerned about the [chargebacks] and not refunds, it might be wise to start repaying for flagrant [friendly-fraud of minors]"The games" PetVille, Happy Aquarium, Wild Ones, Barn Buddy and all Ninja games "have been identified by Stewart as particularly problematic because – as Stewart wrote -" it does not necessarily sound like " true "money for a minor. ".
Even though Stewart was trying to protect the children and prevent them from laying charges, in reality, she seemed afraid to avoid the chargebacks or refunds, which were usually granted when parents insisted they did not learn that Facebook was storing their credit card information. or allow credit card transactions without going through a verification process. She and her colleagues then developed a system that allows the user to re-enter the first six digits of the credit card number, which would require "the minor to prove that he is in possession of the credit card. ".
"Often reimbursed /[chargebacks] happens because a parent allows his child to spend in a small confession and does not realize that the [credit card] the information will be stored, "she writes in internal documents.
Rovio, the studio behind Angry Birds, worried about Facebook's high rate of chargebacks, according to an email sent to Facebook by a studio employee.
"We've seen repayment rates of 5 to 10 percent in terms of the amount of credit that Angry Birds has spent so far, which seems pretty high, but it could be normal for Facebook gaming," says a staff member. Rovio to Facebook. A subsequent investigation on Angry Birds showed that the average Facebook gamer – apparently only five years old – usually played with the permission of a parent, but that 93% of the time parents did not know that Child could make a payment without further payment. authorization.
As a result of what he identified as "a huge need to educate developers," Facebook employees were encouraged to ask developers to handle claims and chargebacks by offering free virtual articles as than "free virtual goods". Other complaints indicated 50% of the time, the user did not receive a receipt for in-app purchases, and Facebook's reporting mechanisms seemed deliberately complicated.
"Today, I was stuck in an infinite loop of questions," sent an employee to the end of an internal test. "It looks like the form is that Frankenstein beast we've welded in the last six months."
"That makes us think – how many users give up," added another.
Facebook declined to answer Reveal's specific questions, but said in a statement: "We were contacted by the Center for Investigative Reporting last year, and we voluntarily unlocked documents relating to a 2012 case. regarding our refund policies for integrated purchases, according to the parents were erroneously committed by their minor children.We intend to disclose additional documents in accordance with the court instructions
"Facebook is working with parents and experts to provide tools for families on Facebook and the Web, and as part of this work we regularly review our own practices, and in 2016 we agreed to update our terms and conditions. provide specific resources for refund requests related to purchases made by minors on Facebook. "
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