Amazon to refund $70 million for in-app purchases by children

Amazon is going to repay American parents a total of more than 70 million dollars, because their children could make purchases in free game apps without warning. This is as a result of Amazon no longer opposing a judgment obliging the company to do so.

Amazon and the FTC have decided not to litigate, paving the way for enforcement of the earlier ruling, which ordered Amazon to repay $70 million. Converted that is more than 65 million euros. In 2016, a US judge ruled that Amazon was liable for unfairly charging fees for purchases made by children in free apps. The American FTC started the lawsuit and the judge ruled in favor.

According to the judge, Amazon knew that many customers did not realize that purchases were quickly made in the apps and that most of them were children. In addition, Amazon failed to secure parental consent for the purchases and the parents were insufficiently informed. Amazon has also made too little work of the option for parents to set passwords, in order to prevent purchases.

Specifically, it concerns the Amazon Appstore, where users can download apps for mobile phones and Kindle Fire tablets. Many apps are aimed at children, who were encouraged to get things in the game apps, which often involved an in-app purchase with real money.