Sendit, an anonymous question-and-answer app, allegedly harvested data from minors while tricking users into paying for premium subscriptions.
The app, which is additional software used in conjunction with popular social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram, was developed by the company Iconic Hearts.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allege that Iconic Hearts and its CEO, Hunter Rice, have violated COPPA, the children’s online privacy protection rule, by harvesting minors’ personal data without parental consent.
COPPA requires websites, apps, and other online services to notify parents of children under 13 if the child’s personal information is being collected.
Sendit would also have to get parental consent before collecting the child’s personal information.
Sendit collected personal information such as phone numbers, birthdates, photos, and usernames for Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and other accounts from minors.
According to Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Sendit knew many users were under 13 and “still failed to comply with COPPA.”
More than 116,000 Sendit users were under the age of 13 back in 2022, according to the FTC.
The complaint filed by the DoJ also alleges that Iconic Hearts tricked impressionable users into paying for a premium subscription with the promise of revealing the sender of anonymous messages.
Sendit allegedly sent fake messages created by Iconic Hearts to trick users into thinking that their anonymous sender had been revealed.
Iconic Hearts also apparently sent messages that were sexual in nature or inappropriate, such as “have you done drugs,” or “would you ever get with me?”
This would prompt the young users to buy Sendits' “Diamond Subscription” to see who sent the messages.
However, the premium function would reveal fake or generic information like location or phone type.
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