The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sueing sendit’s operating company and its CEO for illegal collection of data from weak users, as well as misleading membership practices.
FTC mentioned a legal complaint to the Department of Justice against Econic Hearts Holdings Inc., Sandit, and its CEO, Hunter Rice.
Sendit is a “Icebreaker” social media partner app that is popular among teenagers, which allows users to share a signal in their Snapchat and Instagram stories and collect anonymous reactions from friends and followers.
It is very popular among teenagers, with over five million downloads Google play And on 1.5 million ratings Apple App StoreDeveloper claims that a userbase 25 million,
As FTC investigationIn 2022, Sandit had 116,000 registered users under the age of 13 from the United States.
The suit accuses the following based on pre -FTC investigation:
- Sendit violated the rules of the children’s online privacy protection act (COPPA) by collecting personal data of children under 13 years of age, including phone numbers, date of birth, photo and social media user names, without informing or obtaining their consent without informing parents.
- Sendit cheated users by generating fake anonymous messages, some purposeful stimulating and sexual, their origin incorrectly as they came from friends or contacts.
- Sendit misled consumers in buying premium “Diamond Membership”, it was incorrectly promised that it would reveal the identity of the sectors, but instead provides normal, wrong, or no information.
- Billing conditions for subscription of sandit diamonds failed to clearly disclose, automatically charged up to $ 9.99 a week instead of a fee of one time.
These misleading practices and recurring allegations violate the FTC Act and the Restoration of Recruitment Act (ROSCA), the agency says.
FTC, who voted 3–0 in favor of mentioning the complaint to the US DOJ, said that the above violations are allegations against Sendit only at this level and the decision remains in court.
Bleepingcomputer has contacted Heart Holdings for a comment on FTC’s action, but we are still waiting for a response.
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