Amazon agrees to pay $30 million to settle lawsuits saying it allowed children to make unauthorized purchases on its app

Amazon has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a pair of lawsuits that claimed it allowed children to make unauthorized purchases on its app.<br><br>The lawsuits, which were filed in 2019, stemmed from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reopening an investigation into Amazon for the purchases and finding that it had not done enough to correct the issue. The FTC then sent Amazon a letter in 2020, stating that it was prepared to sue the tech giant unless it resolved the issue. It continued to pursue legal action against Amazon saying the company continued to allow the unauthorized spending.<br><br>Amazon continued to defend the purchases, arguing that it had already fully reimbursed customers for purchases that were made without parental consent. The FTC sought to require the company to obtain parental consent before processing purchases on its app.<br><br>While Amazon has agreed to the $30 million settlement, saying it has continued to work on providing protections to its consumers, it has not acknowledged that it violated any laws.<br><br>Showing how widespread the issue has been, the FTC said there were more than 8,000 purchase transactions that had been charged to customers without their consent.