The world’s leading technology company, Apple Inc will refund consumers at least $32.5 million to settle a longstanding complaint about Apple’s charges incurred by children through mobile apps.
According to a news report posted by Reuters, Apple will be required to charge its billing practices to ensure that it obtains consent from parents before charging for in-app spending.
The terms of settlement was announced by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 (US Time). FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, was quoted as saying that “Whether you’re doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply,” she said.
The FTC added further that “You cannot charge consumers for purchases they did not authorize.” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez stated.
FTC estimated that children spent millions of dollars without their parents’ knowledge. The commission also revealed that the agency have received tens of thousands of complaints from consumers over the unauthorized purchases through Apple App Store.
Meanwhile Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook confirmed that Apple is required to pay around $100 million to parents whose children made unauthorized purchases.
“It doesn’t feel right for the FTC to sue over a case that had already been settled. To us, it smacked of double jeopardy,” Cook wrote. “However, the consent decree the FTC proposed does not require us to do anything we weren’t already going to do, so we decided to accept it rather than take on a long and distracting legal fight.”