FTC Prohibits Anonymous Messaging App From Marketing to Minors

NGL Labs is banned from offering its popular anonymous messaging app to children and teens, the FTC announced Tuesday in a $5 million settlement secured with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. NGL Labs and co-founders Raj Vir and Joao Figueiredo unfairly marketed the app to minors by sending fake messages, falsely claimed AI-related protections against cyberbullying, and violated parental consent requirements under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, the agency alleged. The commission voted 5-0 to file the complaint and proposed order, which a federal court must approve. The defendants “sent fake messages that appeared to come from real people and tricked users into signing up for their paid subscription by falsely promising that doing so would reveal the identity of the senders of messages,” the FTC said. NGL “marketed its app to kids and teens despite knowing that it was exposing them to cyberbullying and harassment,” Chair Lina Khan said. Commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak issued a concurring statement. They disagreed with language in the complaint suggesting FTC Act Section 5 prohibits marketing all anonymous messaging apps for minors. Anonymous speech is protected under the First Amendment's free speech clause, and online anonymity for children and teens has benefits, they said. Those benefits include access to mental health resources and insulation from the “maw of cancel culture.” Figueiredo said in a statement the company has cooperated with the agency for two years and considers the settlement an “opportunity to make NGL better than ever for our users.” While NGL believes “many of the allegations around the youth of our user base are factually incorrect, we anticipate that the agreed upon age-gating and other procedures will now provide direction for others in our space, and hopefully improve policies generally.”