She and her colleagues then came up with a system that required the user to input the first six digits of the credit card number again, forcing "the minor to prove he is in possession of the credit card.”
Stewart said the games "PetVille, Happy Aquarium, Wild Ones, Barn Buddy and any Ninja game" were particularly problematic because, as she later wrote, "it doesn't necessarily look like 'real' money to a minor.” In July 2011, Facebook employee Tara Stewart said that "if the devs are really concerned about the and not refunds it could make sense to start refunding for blatant ". 2 percent thought to be a ‘red flag’ indicator of a ‘deceptive’ business,’” the publication noted. “The average chargeback rate for businesses is 0.5 per cent, and 1 percent is considered ‘high’. However, more than 9 percent of the money was being “clawed back by the credit card companies,” according to Reveal. Game revenue from children between Octothrough Janusoared to ‘a whopping $3.6 million,’ according to Facebook’s own data. Kids who had racked up huge spending totals (in one instance, $6,500) were called “whales,” a term used by the gambling industry. In other cases, money being spent was made to seem fake.įacebook’s own staff was aware of these strategies, according to an internal document. In some cases, children were encouraged to make purchases without their parents' permission.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook carried out a multi-year campaign designed to trick minors and their parents into shelling out as much money as possible when it came to playing games like Angry Birds, PetVille, and Ninja Saga.įacebook reportedly targeted children in its ploy to maximize revenue from free games. Reveal obtained the 135 pages worth of documents as part of a lawsuit brought by a U.S. Photo (c) David Tran - Getty ImagesFacebook has been accused of engaging in a practice internally dubbed ‘friendly fraud’ in an effort to dupe kids and parents into spending money on free-to-play games, according to court documents unsealed and reported by the publication Reveal.
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