Google may be following in Apple's footsteps down the path to legal trouble due to in-app purchases made by children.
Representatives from four law firms — two in California and two in Pennsylvania — hit Google with a class action suit on behalf of parents in the U.S. who paid for their children's unauthorized in-app purchases on Google's Android mobile operating system. The suit comes less than two months after Apple, for the same reasons Google is being sued, paid $32.5 million in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
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The issue has to do with passwords. A user is required to enter his or her password to purchase an Android app or in-app currency that's often associated with gaming apps. After initially entering the password, however, users can make subsequent purchases without re-entering one for 30 minutes, according to the law firms representing the class of plaintiffs.
The complaint filed against Google last week says its gaming apps are "highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of game currency," and it states that the company collected millions of dollars by acting "with the intent to lure minors to purchase game currency in a manner likely to deceive the public." The suit defines minors as children less than 13 years old.
Ilana Imber-Gluck, who lives with her 4- and 5 year-old sons in New York, is the one named plaintiff in the suit. The complaint alleges Imber-Gluck incurred $65.95 in charges from the Google Play store for unauthorized purchases her children made playing the game Marvel Run Jump Smash! on her Samsung Galaxy tablet.
The complaint included the following screenshots from the game Pet Hotel. The image on the left shows the initial purchase screen, which doesn't alert users that they won't be asked to confirm subsequent purchases. The image on the right shows a screen where users can spend up to $99.99 with the click of a button.
(Click to enlarge)

Google could not be reached for comment. The company offers instructions on its website that detail how to configure a device so that it requires a password for all purchases.
The recent FTC action against Apple required the company to change its practices to ensure users weren't charged for unauthorized purchases. The FTC has not responded to our inquiry as to why it has not yet taken similar action against Google.
In addition to its settlement with the FTC in January, Apple also settled for about $100 million in a similar case in early 2013.
The U.S. is not the only country addressing this issue. European Union officials met with representatives from both Google and Apple last month to discuss making new rules to govern in-app purchases.
The full complaint filed against Google is embedded below.
Class Action Suit Against Google

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