Mum Sues Facebook After Kid Racks Up In-Game Purchases


Out in California, a woman is suing Facebook because her teenage son bought the social network’s virtual currency to spend in video games, and that transaction should be illegal under the state’s consumer protection laws.

Glynnis Bohannon, reports Gamasutra, is suing to have the purchases refunded to her, and for all other purchases of this type to be refunded to other parents, up to $US5 million. No other damages or amounts were mentioned. So while this $US5 million is not entirely her claim, it sounds like the case would have the potential to become a class action.

Facebook allows children as young as 13 to create pages but requires them to get parental approval first before making any purchases through the site. Bohannon’s complaint says that is not enough under California state law.

Gamasutra has more details and a rather robust discussion about everyone’s responsibility in this. I recommend reading both as, inevitably, this is going to devolve to another seminar on parenting.

New Facebook lawsuit highlights trouble with kids and virtual currency [Gamasutra]


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


36 responses to “Mum Sues Facebook After Kid Racks Up In-Game Purchases”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *