FB isn’t the service provider, they’re intercepting and recording private conversations they aren’t a party to... where not all the parties are consenting, and sometimes the party is not of age to consent... If it’s criminal, why should they be given “time”?

i agree its not justice, but the answer is because they have power. you could download the vpn and then try to press charges. hope you have lots of money.

A 13-year-old can't make a contract in law, certainly not in the UK. Was the app installed outside the US?

A 19 year old can. If he access private discussion with his 13 year old brother, indirectly the study will gather data of the kid. RGPD don’t care if you gathered data directly or inderictly, you are liable.

It's not quite that cut and dry in the UK[0], and the article mentions that parental consent was required.

But if they were operating in the UK, I'm somewhat doubtful their disclosures as reported in the article could be classed as informed consent under GDPR given the "specific protection" children are provided [1].

[0] http://www.steinfeldlaw.co.uk/uploads/Are%20you%20contractin...

[1] https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio...

They can make a contract in the US, but they generally have the right to disaffirm it until 18.