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Anted States Senate ‘NASHINGTON, DG 2080 January 29, 2019 Mark Zucker’ere Chie! Faccutive Ontiver Facebook. | Hacker Way Menlo Park. CA 94025 Dear Ms, Znckeiberg, We write regarding new evideuoe that Favebook and ils partacis may heve knowingly ‘manipulated children into spending their parents" money without permission wile playing ‘games or Favebook’s platforn, A new report from The Center oe Investigative Reporing shows that your eempany bad a policy of wil-ul blindness toward credit card cherges by children. intemally reterred to as “fiendly fraud” i order to boost reveaue atthe expense of parents Notably, Facebook appears to have rejected a plan that would have effective'y tigated this risk and instead daubled down on maximizing revenue. We write 1 request additional ieformation boul dheve highly-weublivg allegations. According o reeently unsealed court documents, Facebook engaged :n a muti-year effort {ignore minors spending large sums of thc: parents" money wilhout parental knowledge er permission, Facebook employees appcar to have hod éirect knovsledge thal specific design features and dofeul: settings encourazed ibis type of spending. Parents apparently did not know Facebook had logyed their credit eur inlorraation or that their children would be able to make purchases on the platform without any additional verification processes. As a result, many young users incurred several thousands of dollars in charges while playing games like Angry Binis, Petville, Wild Ones, and Barn Buddy, hese findings are alarming and raive serious concerns about whether your company andl its employees knowingly hermed families. (Of additional concem is the way Facebook reacted when the company became aware of this problem, Documents show that when a Facchook employee designed a solution thal wuld court the “Iriendly fraud” phenomonc, Facchook declined io actually isyplervent Instead aechook reportedly went on to design a mechanisen to sutomatically dispute its users” requests for refunds, withoul vonducting uny review af the cequests themselves. Reporting sugges That Your users requested refunds for ove: 9% of the money Facebook made from children, ra'sing ‘serious questions about wl:sther your eompeny has enzaged in decoptive business practices unl ‘whether all of those allected have been made ‘whole. Together. these indings point toa problematic culture of pusting profits ahead of your users” financial wellbeing and raise serious "Nathan Haherson, Facebook Knowinaly Dy Game-Ptvng Kise a Ptr Cares On of Monsy, Reveal ora “The Cente la levesigatve Repocngamsiry 24, 2019), ips ews sevealnewsorgartil fgebvokskoosing}= pe gume-pavang-sids adele enone concems regurding the company’s willingness to engage responsibly in its interactions with children, In light of the aforementioned revelations, we recucst answers to the following questions 1, When did Facebook personnel become avave thar children were likely unknowingly spending their parents’ money while playing games on your platform? Wen did yon, as CEO, become aware ofthis issue? Who is curtently responsible or addressing issues pertaining to children’s use of Facebook services? 3. What policy changes has Facebook implemented to put an end to te practice of children making in-spp purchases without parental knowledgc? If such changes were made. when ‘were they implemented and what steps has Facehook taken to ensure they will he cffoctive? 4. Will Facchook commit to promptly refundirg its users in full for money that was spent Dy children asia sesull of Facebook's past policies? 5. Has the Federal Trade Commission (FC) contacted you about this issuc? L's, is Facebook fully cooperating with any and all related FTC investigarions? 6. Are you aware of any other Facebook policies or progeams that aave led to children spending money or. you platform without parental knowledge? 7. Inorder to mitigate additional risk of maripalsting children on Facchook, will you ‘commit to requiring all youth directed content and services on yous platform to be fiee of charge and without acvertisements? ‘Thank you “or your attention to this matter. We respectfully request a written response to this, letter ky February 19, 2019, Sireoroly, Candy Wagctary ford Chao ep Richard Blumenthal United States Senator United States Senator