Good news for parents, A judge from Seattle has ordered Amazon to refund in-app purchases done by their Children. The decision is followed by the successful legal action by the US Federal Trade Commision.
A report from BBC indicated that refunds are to follow a 12 month process beginning January 2017. Judge Coughenour ordered Amazon to refund the parents of the children that made the purchases without their consent. However the Seattle based judge did say that the US Federal Trade Commission's call for a lump sum refund of $25.6m was too high and opted to reject the notion.
Amazon Latest News & Update: Judge Turns Down Reimbursement In The Form of Gift-Cards
The refund covers purchases that were made from 2011 to 2014. Amazon offered to reimburse the purchases in the form of gift cards, but the Seattle based turned down the offer. The controversial option that enabled in-app purchases for extra content inside mobile apps was first introduced by Amazon in 2011.
A news report from FTC quoted that "there were no password required to purchase in-app content from children's games and apps that appeal to children,". The report indicated that purchasing an app was easy and there were no steps to prevent unauthorized purchases from that time.
Amazon Latest News & Update: It Is Too Easy To Purchase Extra Content From Children's Apps
Parents have long been concerned on how easy it was to do in-app purchasing in famous children's apps and games. This prompted a thorough investigation by the US Federal Trade Commision that resulted to the refunds that Amazon will start to reimburse starting on January 2017. In separate settlements, Apple has agreed to refund at least $30 million of the unauthorized purchases and Google has also committed to reimburse $19 million of the said in-app purchases.
