Federal regulators have taken the unprecedented step of banning the NGL messaging platform from providing service to users under 18. The action is part of a legal settlement between NGL Labs, the Federal Trade Commission and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. NGL, whose niche is “anonymous” communication and features the tagline “Ask me anything,” has also agreed to pay $5 million in fines. An FTC investigation found that in addition to fraudulent business claims about divulging the identities of message senders for a fee, NGL also falsely claimed it used artificial intelligence to filter out cyberbullying and harmful messages.

NGL takes its name from the text shorthand for “Not Gonna Lie.” Launched in 2021, the California-based app’s “popularity has exploded, with a user base topping 200 million,” writes The Washington Post, which says “at one point, it became the most downloaded product on Apple’s App Store.”

WaPo describes it as a place where “users anonymously respond to questions from friends and social media contacts” and people “play games such as ‘never have I ever.’”

NGL “marketed the app as a ‘safe space for teens’ and claimed it uses ‘world class AI content moderation’ including ‘deep learning and pattern matching algorithms’ to combat cyberbullying and other harms,” according to the FTC press release.

However, the lawsuit claims that cyberbullying was “rampant” on the service, with customers complaining of self-harm and even suicide attempts linked to experiences with the NGL app. The FTC says NGL “was unfairly marketed to kids and teens, sent fake messages to drive up usage, tricked users into signing up for its paid service, and didn’t obtain consent for recurring charges,” explains the release.

An FTC blog post details how the six-count complaint alleges NGL “collected and indefinitely stored users’ personal data, including their Instagram and Snapchat usernames and profile pictures, information about their location, and their browsing history.”

“NGL marketed its app to kids and teens despite knowing that it was exposing them to cyberbullying and harassment,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan.

The Verge quotes NGL co-founder Joao Figueiredo saying “the allegations around the youth of our user base are factually incorrect,” adding that “the age-gating and other procedures will now provide direction for others in our space, and hopefully improve policies generally.”

The issue of online safety for children has gained momentum at the state and federal levels, with California, Florida and New York City passing laws protecting minors, and Congress having passed the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).