The hits just keep on coming for Facebook. While the social media giant remains a popular way for friends and family to communicate and stay abreast of each other's daily happenings, the company isn't doing itself any favors in the legal department. A child advocacy group recently filed a complaint with the FTC against Facebook, accusing the platform of misusing its kid-centric messaging app.

As a whole, parents are pretty leery of letting their kiddos on social media as it is. It often feels like just another chance for them to be subjected to online bullying or exposure to age-inappropriate material.

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Facebook introduced its Messenger Kids in December 2017 in the United States on iOS before expanding to both Android and Amazon devices. They've also extended the app's reach  to Mexico and Canada, among other countries. The goal, of course, was to ease parents social media fears while allowing children under the age of 13 to get involved online. Kids under 13 legally aren't supposed to have Facebook accounts, this app was a workaround until they could full immerse themselves in the experience.

But according to the FTC complaint, filed by The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and a few other advocacy groups, Facebook has been violating federal law by collecting kids' personal information without getting the necessary verifiable consent mom or dad.

Essentially, this goes against everything the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) stands for.

While Facebook hasn't officially assessed the letter of complaint, they insist that they do not share ads with users on Messenger Kids, nor do they obtain information to be used for marketing purposes. They do admit certain data is collected because it's needed to operate the service.

If it feels like we've all been down this road with Facebook before, that's because we kind of have.

After all, who can forget the privacy crisis that erupted when it was discovered that data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica collected the personal info of 87 million Facebook users in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election?

If your child is a fan of the Messenger Kids app, hopefully the company can find a way to take feedback from both parents and concerned advocacy groups to make it a truly safe and private method of communication. Either way, it's always important to stay vigilant about the online activity of our kiddos, no matter what their age.

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