Kathmandu, 13th May 2019
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) released a statement last week stating that specific dating applications like Meet4U, Fast Meet, Meet 24 were a violation to the COPPA. This act prevents the apps and websites from storing the personal data of children below 13 years without the consent of their parents.
Wildec LLC, a company based in Ukraine holds the right to these three applications. The FTC mentioned that the company allows users to contact children below 13 years and it directly contradicts the laws under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The applications are violating the statements mentioned within their privacy policy.
The Federal Trade Commission said that there are reports of users as young as 12 and that the apps have collected personal data such as their birthdays and location data. The FTC added that these applications could result in “significant consumer injuries.”
The Federal Trade Commission said in a letter to the Wildec LLC, “Several people have reportedly faced criminal charges for allegedly contacting /attempting to contact minors using the Wildec applications.” They mentioned that the company/firm was aware of children below 13 years were users of the three applications that were supposed not to include the age group.
Apple and Google have removed these applications from the iTunes App store and the Google Play store. In the letter, FTC said that these applications should immediately delete all the personal information about the children. The apps need to have parental consent before allowing the children to access.
Children Exploitation on the internet is an increasing activity that is taking place all over the world. The UK government said that it could criminally charge the executives whose companies hold illegal content that may turn out harmful to the people or the country.
