The official website of Me Contro Te, the popular duo formed by Luigi Calagna and Sofia Scalia, followed by millions of children and pre-teens, has been down for several days now. In place of the portal pages, a message appears, describing "technical updates and optimization" and assuring them that they are working to make the site available again "as soon as possible."
"Dear users, the website is temporarily suspended for technical updates and optimization. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to make the site available again as soon as possible," reads the notice published on the portal.
About ten days ago, Consumerismo No Profit—the independent Italian consumer lobby—filed a petition with the Civil Court of Palermo against Me Contro Te Srl (formerly Pandacorno Srls), the company owned by the digital creator couple. The injunction asks the judges to order a cessation of the "unfair practices" carried out by the company linked to "Luì and Sofì." "Specifically, the website mecontrote.it and the app of the same name represent an entertainment environment designed for children and pre-adolescents: within the website and app, without any separation from the gaming content, there is a "Shop" section with the imperative call to action "Go to the shop!", which leads to an Amazon storefront with affiliate links ," says Consumerismo, which on June 9 reported the concerns to the Antitrust Authority, also requesting the transmission of privacy profiles to the Guarantor. Having received no response, the appeal was filed.
A blow that has befallen the creator couple who just got married on September 5th in a spectacular wedding at the Unipol Dome in Milan and are now honeymooning in Africa. Consumerismo notes: aggressive commercial practices through direct solicitation to children; misleading practices by omission: lack of information about the actual seller, the affiliate nature of the link, the terms of sale, warranty, withdrawal, and customer service; covert advertising: a blurring of lines between entertainment and commercial solicitations. With the injunction, Consumerismo asks the Court of Palermo to ascertain the alleged violations, order their immediate cessation with a ban on repetition, and to order the website and app to be harmonized within 30 days by removing the "Go to the shop!" slogan from the gaming environment (or segregation behind an age filter); a clear separation between content and advertising; a unambiguous corporate identity in all notices; A new cookie banner with equally prominent "Accept" and "Reject" options; information rewritten in child-friendly language; and an age verification system and parental consent.
(Unioneonline)