The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington state on 2014. The Court found all relevant information provided by the Applicant sufficient in order to determine the responsibility of Amazon in the In-App purchases late Tuesday.
On the other hand, Amazon didn’t have sufficient evidence to demonstrate innocence in this trial. Although Amazon gave refunds to the affected customers, the Court established the liability of this company.
Moreover, said Court found that 1.573 customers didn’t receive complete refunds in their accounts. Data analyst from FTC, Julie Miller, showed evidence that Amazon has made $86 million from In-App purchases and only refunded $10 million. This was a negative point for Amazon.
Backgrounds
In the past, agreements were signed by the Federal Trade Commission with Apple and Google in order to regulate the In-App purchase made by children for about $32.5 million and $19 million, respectively. Amazon did not agree to settle. For this reason, the FTC decided to file a demand to this company.
According to the Court decision, Apple, Google, and Amazon must apply the In-App purchases with a password and a mechanism for consent. Also, they must apply for an opt-in to enable purchases without a password.
The new reality
Judge ask for information from both parties and decided to press for full refunds for affected Amazon customers and Amazon must implement new rules in order to avoid more problems with the purchases.
It’s important to point out that the parents also have responsibilities over their children at the moment of using applications or video games that request for money in order to pass from one level to another one. This is a work between both sides of this history.
Source: Nasdaq