Facebook Must Refund Purchases Made By Children

[HardOCP News]

This case is such a no-brainer that I have no idea how it took over four years to reach this decision. Sure there could be adults that claim the purchases were made by a minor when they weren't but I don't think that is the case in the majority of these claims.

It’s the culmination of a class action lawsuit brought against the social network in February 2012 by two children and their parents over purchases of the discontinued virtual currency Facebook Credits, now known as Facebook Payments, made using the parents’ credit cards. The currency was designed as a site-wide form of payment for virtual goods within games like Farmville and Bejeweled.

 

[Sonicks]

So one parent gave their card to their kid, not knowing how the payment system works, for a game upgrade and the other kid basically stole his parent's card to use without permission.

How are those two things Facebook's fault?

This is yet another example of parents that let the internet raise their kids for them trying to avoid their own responsibility. If you don't know what your kids do on the internet then you should at least try to understand it first before giving them permission willy nilly (as was the case with the first kid).

 

[kbrickley]

Why hold yourself responsible for the behavior of your children when you can make it the responsibility of a large Internet company? If the parents are sharing their accounts with their child then THEY, not Facebook, should be responsible. If they put their credit card information in their child's account then THEY, not Facebook, should be responsible. One could question whether any child below a certain threshold should be on Facebook.

The mobile stores like Google Play and iTunes had way more liability since the logon time before disconnect was very long and sharing accounts was common since you couldn't easily use the smart devices/tablets without an app account. I'm not sure I would have held FB to the same level of liability.

 

[Kaitian]

So one parent gave their card to their kid, not knowing how the payment system works, for a game upgrade and the other kid basically stole his parent's card to use without permission.

How are those two things Facebook's fault?

This is yet another example of parents that let the internet raise their kids for them trying to avoid their own responsibility. If you don't know what your kids do on the internet then you should at least try to understand it first before giving them permission willy nilly (as was the case with the first kid).

Minors cannot consent to a contract, period. If a dealership sells a car to a minor in a contract, minor wrecks it after driving off the lot, fails to pay, that minor is off the hook. It was the fault of the dealership for selling to a minor. The same logic applies to Facebook regardless of method. Since the parents did not consent to the contract, the contract is null and void.

 

[Ur_Mom]

I'm 7. Can I get out of it?

If the card was used without permission, it was stolen and the purchase was unauthorized. Call the Police and have that little shit arrested.

 

[Straypuft]

Facebook should also reset the game accounts that made unauthorized purchases should they return the money, this will also deal with adults who "claim" their kids bought game items since it could be abused.

 

[JosiahBradley]

I still hate the idea of virtual currency when I have virtual credit card money to spend anyhow which has much greater protections and giant corporations like Visa backing them. This would have been standard credit card fraud and of course the parents faults for not securing their own credit cards.

 

[Ididar]

Minors cannot consent to a contract, period. If a dealership sells a car to a minor in a contract, minor wrecks it after driving off the lot, fails to pay, that minor is off the hook. It was the fault of the dealership for selling to a minor. The same logic applies to Facebook regardless of method. Since the parents did not consent to the contract, the contract is null and void.

Correct. But, the normal way for an unauthorized charge on your credit card to be dealt with is through your credit card company with the assertion that your card was stolen and used by someone not authorized to do so. Of course, the people in question don't want to do that since that would mean consequences for their kids and probably themselves. Their credit card company wouldn't look kindly on the situation. So, instead, they go after the company the kid was making a purchase from. The reality is, the company in question has no way to know who's making that purchase. If the person enters all the right credit card information then the online company, regardless of which company, has to assume that the person is who they say they are. Otherwise, online shopping as a whole would be dead. Amazon couldn't operate unless it assumed that the person entering the credit card information actually owns the card. Just like Facebook, a minor isn't technically allowed to buy anything on Amazon either but it isn't Amazon's fault if they take their parent's credit card and do so.