The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lodged a complaint against Sendit, a popular anonymous question platform among Gen Z and younger users, alleging illegal collection of minors’ data, misleading users about the origins of messages, and manipulating users into purchasing memberships.
Sendit allows its predominantly teenage audience to exchange anonymous questions through integrations with platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. Over the years, similar apps such as YOLO and LMK have emerged, but both were removed from Snapchat in 2021 following a lawsuit related to a child’s suicide. After these apps were suspended, Sendit saw a surge in popularity, reaching 3.5 million downloads as users sought alternatives.
By the next year, TechCrunch investigations revealed that newer anonymous Q&A apps like Sendit and LMK were deceiving users with fabricated messages and then encouraging them to make in-app purchases to discover the sender’s identity.
The FTC’s complaint echoed these findings, stating that Sendit sent users fake and provocative prompts such as “would you ever get with me?” or “have you done drugs?”
To find out who supposedly sent a message, users could pay $9.99 for a “Diamond Membership.” However, the FTC alleges that it was not made clear that this fee was a recurring weekly charge rather than a single payment. If a user paid to reveal the sender of a message that was actually generated by Sendit, they would receive false information.
Additionally, the FTC accused Sendit of deliberately gathering data from users under 13 years old without parental approval, which violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The complaint specifically referenced a 2022 incident where over 116,000 users indicated they were under 13, yet Sendit’s parent company, Iconic Hearts, failed to inform parents or seek consent for collecting this information.
That same year, TechCrunch noted that App Store reviews for Sendit for Instagram included complaints that the app had promoted itself as “Sendit Reveal,” claiming it could disclose the identities behind anonymous messages.
When questioned by TechCrunch about these manipulative tactics, Sendit’s founder Hunter Rice responded by suggesting the publication was seeking sensationalism.
“There are plenty of positive, newsworthy aspects to what we’re building,” Rice told TechCrunch in 2022. “You’re free to have your fun with this story, but I’m only interested in discussing actual news.”
In 2022, Sendit also filed a lawsuit against rival app NGL, accusing it of copying the concept of fake anonymous questions and other proprietary information. Following TechCrunch’s coverage, NGL was compelled to discontinue these practices to remain available in the App Store.
