Anonymous 'ask me anything' chat app NGL ordered to knock it off targeting kids

The US Federal Trade Commission has thrown the book at NGL Labs and its founders for allegedly breaking a depressing amount of child internet safety law.

NGL Labs, founded by Raj Vir and Joao Figueiredo, in December 2021 launched a chat app also called NGL that encouraged its users to say to others: "Ask me anything." As anyone on the internet for a while knows, inviting strangers to ask others anonymous questions rarely ends well. Each NGL user was given a personal link they could share – ostensibly with friends or on social media - through which they could exchange anonymous messages with others.

The FTC subsequently claimed NGL did so many things wrong. In a statement, the watchdog's boss Lina Khan alleged the app maker "unlawfully exploit[ed] kids for profit," and accused NGL of breaking the law by advertising its anonymous Q&A app to under-18s, faking messages from seemingly real but actually nonexistent people to children to encourage subscription signups, and lying about the capabilities of its AI content moderator.

The finer details are laid out in this legal complaint [PDF] drawn up by the FTC and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

It's said the chat app was heavily marketed toward kids, and as the complaint highlights, this is a red flag as anonymous messaging and children don't mix well.

NGL explicitly said its app was "a fun yet safe place" and that "young people" could "share their feelings without judgment." Marketing for the app featured the software being used via Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat for discussing topics relevant to kids, such as school, parents, and children's TV shows, according to the FTC.

Founders Vir and Figueiredo were apparently so focused on advertising to kids that the duo directly asked high schoolers to use the app, we're told. The software's unnamed product lead suggested they "get 10 kids at one high school[.] Have them post [the NGL App link] and replies[.] Combo with influencer so it looks cool[.]," it's claimed.

"We need high schoolers not 20 something[s]," the complaint quotes that product lead as saying.

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The FTC said those at NGL had read news articles about the harm caused by similar anonymous Q&A apps, including Yolo, and that the founders of NGL had contacted the Yolo chief exec for design advice "despite being aware of the harms that Yolo had caused." Another red flag in the watchdog's mind.

Further compounding this issue, the complaint alleges NGL's AI-powered content moderating software didn't prevent bullying from taking place because it didn't work. Due to that ineffective moderation, the app's developers apparently received plenty of complaints about cyberbullying via their application, which in one case escalated to an attempted suicide in June 2022, it is said. Additionally, there were multiple instances of self-harm linked to usage of the app, it is claimed.

NGL, it's alleged, made no attempt to stem the tide of cyberbullying on its app despite a commitment in its so-called "safety center" reading "if your child is the target of bullying on NGL, we're here for you and your family and can help you handle it in the best way possible."

Almost as an aside, the FTC and the LA District Attorney claim NGL violated America's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for knowing that some of its users were under 13 yet decided to keep their personal information anyway, even after receiving complaints from parents.

Users who signed up for NGL's subscription branded 'suckers'

To actually make money from NGL's young audience, the complaint says, the app's founders tried to get users to sign up for an expensive subscription to NGL Pro.

Here's one way that would happen, allegedly: Although those who sent messages on NGL were supposed to be anonymous, the biz said subscribers to NGL Pro could get "hints" as to a sender's identity, such as their location or phone model, if the receiver paid up. Messages sent to non-subscribers were paired with a "who sent this" button that directed users to a page where they could buy NGL Pro to find out that info, the FTC said.

Obviously, those hints, as alleged, involved leaking private information, which the FTC frowns upon.

In addition to that, to get people to pay for NGL Pro, Vir and Figueiredo created over a thousand unique "fake messages" that users could receive from seemingly real but actually imaginary people to entice those users to sign up, the Feds claim. Those messages would also have a "who sent this" button pointing to a subscription page even though no one real actually sent them, it is alleged.

Figueiredo is quoted as saying "[t]hese ppl addicted… there's people sharing the [NGL App link] EVERY day and all they get is fake questions," and "I feel like a lot of 'harassment' complaints come from fake questions lol[.]" For his part, Vir allegedly said "[n]ew messages [is] kinda a lie though right[?]"

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The fake yet enticing questions to users were allegedly successful in boosting purchases of NGL Pro. However, the complaint says many subscribers didn't even realize it was a subscription at all, having believed it was a one-time purchase. NGL Pro wasn't cheap either as it cost $7 per week, or over $360 per year. Prior to July 2022, the subscription was even more expensive at $10 a week.

And if that wasn't bad enough, sometimes the "hints" given to users weren't even true, it's claimed, with the complaint alleging the service could even get the phone model wrong. The NGL team seems to have understood its subscription service was more or less a scam, as the complaint quotes a product lead as saying "Lol suckers" in a text group chat with Vir and Figueiredo.

(NGL, by the way, is short for not gonna lie.)

The FTC has managed to extract [PDF] a $4.5 million settlement from NGL that will be distributed to those allegedly scammed by the app, plus a punitive fine of $500,000. Additionally, as part of this deal, NGL can no longer be advertised to nor used by children; the NGL Pro subscription has to be made more transparent and easy to cancel; and the developers have to delete any personal data collected from kids under 13 as COPPA requires.

The proposed order, which needs a court sign-off, also says NGL must check in with the FTC a year from now with a compliance report, and further compliance reports will need to be filed every 10 years (assuming the app even exists in 2034).

The Register reached out to NGL and was told the app makers won't be arguing against the FTC's position. "After nearly two years of cooperating with the FTC's investigation, we view this resolution as an opportunity to make NGL better than ever for our users and we think the agreement is in our best interest," Figueiredo told us.

In a statement online, NGL outlined the changes it made to its app in light of the FTC's findings.

"While we believe 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," Figueiredo said.

When asked about what allegations were "factually incorrect," an NGL representative declined to go on the record. ®