Sendit tricked kids, harvested their data, and faked messages, FTC claims

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Sendit’s parent company, Iconic Hearts Holdings Inc, and its CEO Hunter Rice, alleging that children under 13 were signed up, and their personal data were collected without parental consent in breach of COPPA. Sendit, an add-on for Snapchat and Instagram, allowed users to post prompts on stories and receive anonymous replies, but the suit says the company continued collecting phone numbers, birthdates, photos and usernames after parents complained.

The complaint asserts that Sendit misled users about its paid “Diamond Membership,” and that some messages were faked by the defendants, with claims of provocative or romantic messages that were often sent by the company itself. It notes charges of up to $9.99 every week after appearing to be a single fee to disclose a user’s identity, and that Sendit had registered 116,000 under-13 users in 2022, with a claimed footprint of more than five million downloads and around 25 million total users. The case has been referred to the Department of Justice, with the Central District of California set to decide the matter.