The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a legal complaint with the Department of Justice against Iconic Hearts Holdings Inc. and its CEO, Hunter Rice. The company is the creator of the popular social media companion app called Sendit. The app, which has been downloaded more than five million times on Google Play and has 1.5 million ratings on the Apple App Store, is an “icebreaker” that allows users to share a prompt on their Snapchat and Instagram stories and collect anonymous responses from friends and followers. The developer claims a userbase of 25 million, with a large percentage being teenagers.
According to a prior FTC investigation, Sendit had 116,000 registered users under the age of 13 in the United States alone in 2022. Based on these findings, the lawsuit alleges the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal data from children under 13, including their phone numbers, birthdates, photos, and social media usernames, without notifying their parents or getting consent. The lawsuit also claims that Sendit generated fake anonymous messages, some of them provocative and sexual, and made them appear as if they were from friends or contacts.
In addition to collecting data from minors, the lawsuit also alleges deceptive practices that misled consumers into buying the app’s premium “Diamond Membership.” Sendit is accused of falsely promising to reveal the identity of anonymous senders but instead providing generic or false information, or nothing at all. Furthermore, the FTC claims the company failed to clearly disclose the billing terms for the Diamond Membership. Instead of a one-time charge, the app would automatically charge users up to $9.99 a week.
The FTC states that these deceptive practices and recurring charges constitute violations of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA). The agency voted 3-0 to refer the complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice. The FTC emphasizes that these are currently just allegations against Sendit and that a final decision will be made in court.
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