Are NGL messages fake? What the FTC found

What the FTC said

In July 2024 the Federal Trade Commission and the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office brought a case against NGL Labs, the company behind the NGL app, and its co-founders. The agencies' main points, as described by the FTC:

• Fake messages: the app sent users computer-generated messages designed to look like they came from people they knew.
• Paid hints: users were pushed to buy NGL Pro on the suggestion it would reveal who sent their messages, but paying users only got vague hints such as time, device type or rough location.
• Billing: the agencies said NGL didn't make clear that NGL Pro was a recurring weekly charge.
• Moderation: the FTC said NGL's claims that AI filtered out cyberbullying were deceptive.
• Children's privacy: the complaint alleged the app collected data from children under 13 without the protections US law requires.

NGL Labs and its founders agreed to pay $5 million and were banned from offering the app to anyone under 18. In January 2026 the FTC announced a refund claims process for affected users.

Signs a message might not be from a real person

No single sign proves a message is fake, but these patterns are worth noticing on any anonymous app:

• It's generic enough to send to anyone: “are you still mad at me?”, “I can't stop thinking about you”.
• It arrives within moments of posting, before your friends could have seen the story.
• It's followed by an offer to pay to find out who sent it.
• Several messages share almost the same wording.
• It doesn't answer the question you actually asked.

Why it matters

An anonymous message works on your feelings: a “crush” you can't place, a “friend” who's upset with you. When an app invents those messages and then sells the answer, it's using that curiosity against you. That's why the FTC's case focused on young users, who were most exposed to the pressure to pay.

Fake messages also make the real ones worth less. If you can't tell whether a compliment came from a friend or from the app, even the genuine kind words stop meaning much — and that defeats the whole point of asking for honest, anonymous answers in the first place.

Anonymous messages without the tricks

Sustalk never sends fake or bot messages. If nobody writes, your inbox stays empty — every message is from a real person who opened your link. There's no paid reveal and no hints: we don't store senders' IP addresses with their messages, so there's nothing to sell. Instead you get filters that hide threats, slurs and bullying, a Hidden folder, block and report, and the option to pause your link.

Comparing apps? Here's what to look for in an app like NGL, and the honest answer to whether you can see who sent an NGL message.