Facebook to refund games and app purchases of kids

A court in California today ruled a class action suit action against Facebook. The lawsuit touched on minors who make in-app or in-game purchases with their parents’ credit cards. With this ruling in place, Facebook will not charge parents for purchases made by children henceforth.Facebook refunds children purchasesFacebook’s legal representatives argued that children got what they paid for like any other buyer. The plaintiffs, on one hand, argued that minors didn’t exactly know what they were doing.

According to The Guardian, the basis of the court’s ruling was a Californian legislation called the “Family Code.” Under this statute, any contract entered into by a minor who is anyone under the age of 18, is void.

This “Family Code” statute not only applies in the state of California, but in the whole of the US as well.

“These kids don’t know what they are doing,” said John R Parker, the leading lawyer who represented families in the lawsuit. “They’ve got a credit card they put into their account, and they don’t realise that every time they click on some button in the game to get some extra magic coin, the company is charging the parent’s account.”

Ben Edelman, a respected lawyer and associate professor at Harvard University who worked on the historical case was happy.

“It’s not unheard of to talk to parents who have lost $1,000 or $2, 000,” he said. “I’m thrilled that Facebook will give that money back – but it would have been even better if they’d given it back earlier or not taken it in the first place.”

With this rule in place and nearly 73% of Facebook’s audience in the US fitting what can be described as minors, the company’s- they will have to go back to the drawing board. Representatives suggest that the company will find new ways of educating users about responsibility.

They’re also working on new cases that may have been caught, including looking into each case submitted by parents via their payments support page.

If you are keen about a refund for monies spent by a minor in your family, head over to the page to make a claim.

Top/Featured Image: By Pixabay

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