We've heard case after case of children accidentally making huge purchases on iTunes, whether it's paying for an in-game currency or a product they don't need. It only makes sense that a U.S. class action was in Facebook's future.
A federal judge told the social networking giant on Tuesday that it would face a nationwide class-action lawsuit that would require it to provide refunds to parents if a child spends their money without their permission. Reuters reported that U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman expressed in a court of law how "a class of plaintiffs estimated in the hundreds of thousands may press their claim that Facebook should change how it handles online transactions by minors."
While this case may be nationwide, the group won't be able to request mass refunds as one would do in a Supreme Court. Instead, each individual can submit their own request for a refund. The lawsuit, which started in April 2012, claims that "Facebook let children use their parents' credit and debit cards to buy the virtual currency Facebook Credits, and violated California law by refusing refunds under its "all sales are final" policy when the parents complained." Facebook Credits was disbanded in 2013, and replaced with Facebook Payments.
This case is peculiar, since it deals with how Facebook reportedly treats children as adults. Facebook accounts require users to be 13 years old. However, the plaintiffs in the case claim that the company's payment services supposedly "treat children as adult users when it comes to taking their money".
Facebook's legal team believes that this case has little merit and won't stand up in the court of law. The team told Reuters that "the plaintiffs' claims were too disparate, and an injunction would not address them."
