Unsealed documents from a 2012 court case reportedly show how Facebook knowingly targeted children with what was internally described as "friendly fraud." The term describes when children spend money on games without their parents' knowledge or permission. One memo even states, "Friendly Fraud - what it is, why it's challenging, and why you shouldn't try to block it." The lawsuit claimed that Facebook intentionally made it difficult, if not impossible, to pursue a legal refund for such charges.

In an interview with CBS News, Glynnis Bohannon described why she filed a lawsuit against Facebook. She says it began when she allowed her 12-year-old son to use her credit card on the Facebook game Ninja Saga. She expected a $19.95 charge to go through once with her permission and then never happen again but when her credit card bill eventually arrived, she discovered Facebook was charging her for almost $1000 in in-app purchases. She then had her son log onto his game for her:

"I said, 'show me what you are doing,' so there was a little stack of coins and it would get low and it would blink at him and he would hit it and it would go brrrring and the coins would shoot up again. No symbol of my visa card, no symbol $19.95 with the dollar symbol. Nothing! Just like he had told me."

In other words, not only did Bohannon have no idea her child was continuing to use her credit card while playing the game, but her son had no idea he was spending any money either.

Bohannon's case against Facebook, which eventually grew into a class action suit involving many different parties, was eventually settled in 2016. As such, a conclusion regarding the matter of guilt and the terms of the suit was never reached and any internal changes made by Facebook as a result of the suit were never made public.

While Bohannon wasn't able to speak about the details of her settlement, she did comment on some details shared in the case with regard to Facebook's policy change between the start of her case in 2012 and its end:

"They've changed some of their practices but initially when they went into buying and selling things on Facebook, they didn't have proper, safe practices."

Facebook itself also provided a statement regarding some changes that its made in the years since Bohannon's case:

"... we routinely examine our own practices, and in 2016 agreed to update our terms and provide dedicated resources for refund requests related to purchases made by minors on Facebook."

Facebook's unwillingness to change is given some perspective based on certain findings from the case. A series of emails stemming from 2012 showed that 90% of refund requests for Angry Birds were the result of  "friendly fraud,"  and that nearly all cases showed the parent was not aware of the charges or that charges would be allowed without approval in the first place. Another deposition made clear that Facebook was slow to reduce "friendly fraud" because worries it would harm revenue.

Bohannan would also provide her thoughts on the case, why she pursued it, and Facebook's reasoning for what occurred:

"I think it was all driven by greed and money. I felt this could be a family's rent or the car payment, or their grocery money, and that this was wrong."

Source: CBS News