Mom Sues Facebook Over Unauthorized Credit Purchases

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An Arizona mother has filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook seeking a refund of what she says are unauthorized Facebook Credit purchases made by her minor son. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of all parents whose children have racked up credit card charges by purchasing Facebook Credits without their knowledge.

Plaintiff Glynnis Bohannon claims in the class action lawsuit that her son used her credit card to purchase Facebook Credits without permission, and believes the social networking site should never have allowed that to happen.

Bohannon says that buried within Facebook’s terms and conditions is a phrase saying children under the age of 18 should consult a parent or guardian before buying Facebook Credits, but that this is not enough to prevent children from making purchases without their parents’ consent.

The Facebook Credit class action lawsuit highlights the fact that Facebook “specifically requires that users agree ‘not [to] provide any false personal information’” when purchasing Credits. Some legal experts say this could sway the court to rule that Facebook Credit transactions are void, and subject to full refunds, if it can be proved that any part of a person’s information is false.

This could be a huge financial blow for Facebook, which recently declared that users purporting to be aged 13-17 purchased over $5 million in Facebook Credits in 2011.

Facebook isn’t the only company facing a class action lawsuit for letting minors rack up their parents’ credit card bills. Apple is fighting a class action lawsuit by parents who say the company “induced” their children into making unauthorized in-app purchases in supposedly “free” games by using “bait apps.”

“These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more,” the Apple “Bait Apps” Class Action Lawsuit states.

The lawsuit is expected to go to trial the end of next month.

Bohannon is asking the court to certify a class of all parents and legal guardians in the U.S. whose minor children made unauthorized purchases of Facebook Credits from the minor child’s Facebook account.

The Minor Facebook Credit Class Action Lawsuit case is Glynnis Bohannon v. Facebook, Inc., Case No. 12-cv-01894-HRL, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose Division.

UPDATE: On Jan. 15, 2016, the Facebook class action lawsuit reached a settlement in which the social network agreed to make things easier on parents who request refunds for in-app purchases unknowingly made by a minor, in addition to other procedural changes.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 24, 2019, documents recently unsealed after legal action by The Center for Investigative Reporting show thatFacebook bilked kids and parents out of moneyusing in-app purchases and kept doing so even though an employee had discovered a fix.