In an unsurprising ruling, a U.S. District Court agreed with the Federal Trade Commission that Amazon is liable for unauthorized in-app purchases, mostly by children. The FTC estimated that more than 40% of these purchases were not authorized. In-app purchases include game currency, game unlocks and other subscription items.
At issue was Amazon’s lack of sufficient controls for consent, making it easy for kids to make purchases without the knowledge of parents. To make matters worse, Amazon’s no-refund policy on in-app purchases provided little recourse for affected customers.
The court has not yet set a remedy for affected customers. Similar claims by the FTC were settled by Google and Apple in 2014, resulting in more than $50 million in refunds.
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