Google and Apple removed dating apps because they collected data on 12-year-olds

Here is another reason to closely monitor your child's use of the smartphone: they could be connected to dating apps. According to the Federal Trade Commission, three dating apps allow children under the age of 12 to use their services. He described this practice as "extremely problematic".

Meet24, FastMeet and Meet4U, applications owned by the Ukrainian company Wildec LLC, have collected data about users, including their date of birth and location. User policies on apps said they were banned for children under 13, the FTC said, but they did collect data on these children.

Google

GOOG, -1.29%

and Apple

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has removed applications from their stores, said the FTC. Eugene Yatsenko, director of Wildec, told MarketWatch that he took action after receiving the letter of May 1 and that minors "can no longer access our services and can not create a new account".

Federal law states that there must be "verifiable parental consent" before a site can collect personal data on a child under 13 years of age. Wildec's failure appeared to violate federal rules, writes Maneesha Mithal, associate director of the FTC's Privacy Protection and Identity Protection Division.

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In fact, the regulators said they were "able to search other users by age and location to find users close to us who indicated that they were under the age of 12." (Apple

AAPL, -2.70%

and Google

GOOG, -1.29%

did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)

Such data collection and policies pose "a significant risk to the health and safety of children," said Mithal. He referred to three criminal cases in which the authorities stated that the applications allowed men to address minors. One case involves a rape charge.

The apps were removed on May 2, Yatsenko said. All the requirements and recommendations of the FTC have been met and he hopes the applications will return Apple and Google Play, he said. (Users must tell sites like Tinder, Bumble and Match

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they are at least 18 years old)

In a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center, over 50% of respondents said their dates were "seriously misrepresented"; about a quarter of survey respondents reported being contacted by someone via a site and feeling harassed or uncomfortable.

Google shares have risen 12.7% since the beginning of the year, while those of Apple have risen by 28.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Index

DJIA, -1.79%

was up 11.1% and the S & P 500

SPX, -1.65%

was up 17% over the same period.

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