The Federal Commerce Fee on Tuesday barred a web-based service for the primary time from serving customers underneath the age of 18, saying the app had violated baby privateness and shopper safety legal guidelines and had harmed youngsters and youngsters.
The F.T.C. stated it had reached a settlement with the maker of the nameless messaging app NGL over privateness and shopper safety violations. NGL Labs, the maker of NGL, had aggressively marketed the app as a “secure area for teenagers” with sturdy moderation practices, however as a substitute, it uncovered customers to cyberbullying and different harms, the company stated.
NGL, a standard acronym used for the expression “not gonna lie,” agreed to a $4.5 million settlement to pay customers affected by the corporate’s practices. The settlement was collectively reached with the Los Angeles District Legal professional, who imposed a further $500,000 civil penalty on NGL.
Lawmakers and regulators have turn into more and more involved in regards to the security and well-being of youngsters on-line. Final month, the Surgeon Common referred to as for a well being warning label on social media for youngsters and kids, which might take an act of Congress to turn into mandated. Lawmakers are additionally wrangling over the Children On-line Security Act, a invoice that might pressure social media, messaging and different websites to guard youngsters from dangerous content material and take advantage of sturdy privateness setting the default for younger customers.
The F.T.C. stated it was pushing to guard youngsters on-line by analyzing apps and providers that violated baby privateness and shopper safety legal guidelines.
In NGL’s case, the company stated it discovered a bunch of misleading practices, in accordance with the settlement. The corporate, primarily based in Los Angeles, launched NGL in 2021, and falsely claimed in its advertising to younger customers that its service used synthetic intelligence instruments to stop bullying and different dangerous actions on-line, the F.T.C. stated.
NGL additionally despatched faux messages that appeared to come back from actual folks to lure customers to the positioning, in accordance with the settlement. NGL then tricked them into paying for a $9.99 weekly price to disclose the identities of the senders of messages, however then didn’t disclose these identities, the F.T.C. stated.
“NGL marketed its app to youngsters and teenagers regardless of figuring out that it was exposing them to cyberbullying and harassment,” Lina Khan, the F.T.C. chair, stated in an announcement.
In an interview, Sam Levine, the pinnacle of shopper safety on the F.T.C., stated the company’s motion was meant to ship a message to the tech trade. Over the previous two years, the F.T.C. has additionally reached settlements with the Fortnite creator Epic Video games and Amazon for baby privateness violations.
“We’re taking a broad have a look at how these apps are affecting youngsters and teenagers,” Mr. Levine stated.
NGL stated many allegations within the declare have been “factually incorrect,” however that it had applied a number of modifications required within the settlement. “After practically two years of cooperating with the FTC’s investigation, we view this decision as a possibility to make NGL higher than ever for our customers and we predict the settlement is in our greatest curiosity,” stated Joao Figueiredo, the co-founder of NGL.
Mother and father of youngsters who’ve been harmed on-line and baby security teams hailed the F.T.C.’s motion.
Kristin Bride, the mom of a 16-year-old who killed himself in 2020 after he was cyberbullied on nameless messaging apps, had filed a grievance towards NGL to the F.T.C. in October, saying the app harmed youngsters. The company stated it met with Ms. Bride and different dad and mom and baby security teams throughout its investigation.
“We’ve identified for over a decade that nameless apps marketed to teenagers result in cyberbullying and, in lots of circumstances, a suicide like what occurred to my 16-year-old son Carson,” Ms. Bride stated in an interview.
