District Court Judge Beth Freeman ordered the documents unsealed on Jan. It pursued a goal of increasing its revenues at the expense of children and their parents. The revenue Facebook earned off children had such large chargeback rates – a process in which the credit card company is forced to step in and claw back money on behalf of parents – that it far exceeded what the Federal Trade Commission has said is a red flag for deceptive business practices.ĭespite the many warning signs, which continued for years, Facebook made a clear decision. Outraged parents were forced to turn to the Better Business Bureau, their credit card companies or even the courts to get their money back. A child could spend hundreds of dollars a day on in-game features such as arming their character with a flaming sword or a new magic spell to defeat an enemy – even if they didn’t realize it until the credit card bill arrived. Facebook employees referred to these children as “whales” – a term borrowed from the casino industry to describe profligate spenders. ![]() When parents found out how much their children had spent – one 15-year-old racked up $6,500 in charges in about two weeks playing games on Facebook – the company denied requests for refunds. ![]() Their own reports showed underage users did not realize their parents’ credit cards were connected to their Facebook accounts and they were spending real money in the games, according to the unsealed documents.įor years, the company ignored warnings from its own employees that it was bamboozling children.Ī team of Facebook employees even developed a method that would have reduced the problem of children being hoodwinked into spending money, but the company did not implement it, and instead told game developers that the social media giant was focused on maximizing revenues. Sometimes the children did not even know they were spending money, according to another internal Facebook report. The more than 135 pages of unsealed documents, which include internal Facebook memos, secret strategies and employee emails, paint a troubling picture of how the social media giant conducted business.įacebook encouraged game developers to let children spend money without their parents’ permission – something the social media giant called “ friendly fraud” – in an effort to maximize revenues, according to a document detailing the company’s game strategy. The records are part of a class-action lawsuit focused on how Facebook targeted children in an effort to expand revenue for online games, such as Angry Birds, PetVille and Ninja Saga. In such cases, we comply with local laws and regulations.Want more Reveal? Subscribe to our newsletter to get our investigations delivered straight to your inbox.įacebook orchestrated a multiyear effort that duped children and their parents out of money, in some cases hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and then often refused to give the money back, according to court documents unsealed tonight in response to a Reveal legal action. Please be aware that access to Facebook programs and services can be restricted in certain countries or regions. Remove the game from the list of applications on Facebook.Restart your device, enter the game, and try to reconnect it to Facebook.Make sure you have allowed the use of Facebook to sign in to third-party sites and applications ( Setting & Privacy-> Settings-> Apps and Websites-> tap on the Edit button in the Apps, Websites and Games section-> check if the setting is turned on).Try to reconnect to Facebook in the game settings.Open your browser -> open your Facebook account page -> log into your account.Uninstall the Facebook app from your device.For devices with iOS version 14.0 and above, limit tracking requests (go to device Settings-> Privacy-> Tracking).For devices with iOS version below 14.0 reset your advertising identifier (go to device Settings -> Privacy -> Advertising -> Reset Advertising Identifier).Make sure you have allowed the use of Facebook to sign in to third-party sites and applications ( Settings-> Apps and Websites-> tap on the Edit button in the Apps, Websites and Games section-> check if the setting is turned on). ![]() Open Facebook Settings (using the mobile app or website version).Restart your device and try to connect the game to Facebook again.Log out of your Facebook account in all browsers installed on your device (Chrome, Opera, Safari, etc.).If you have the Facebook app installed on your device, log out of it (or delete and reinstall it). ![]()
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