Fortnite received a record fine in U.S.
2022.12.20 02:21
Fortnite received a record fine in U.S.
Budrigannews.com – The Federal Trade Commission and Epic Games announced on Monday that the company will pay $520 million to settle allegations that it illegally collected personal information about children and tricked people into making purchases.
It will impose strict default privacy settings for young people and pay a record $275 million penalty for violating a children’s privacy law. According to the FTC, Epic Games will also pay $245 million to refund customers who were tricked into making purchases they didn’t intend to make by so-called “dark patterns.”
In a statement, FTC Chair Lina Khan said, “Epic used default settings that invaded privacy and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children.”
The announcement comes at a time when the agency has taken a more aggressive approach to policing the gaming industry. Last week, the agency announced that it had filed a complaint against Microsoft for its $69 billion attempt to acquire Activision.
In a statement on Monday, Epic said that in 2019, it would no longer have random item loot boxes or pay-to-win or pay-to-progress mechanics when two players compete against one another. It likewise said that it was instituting an unequivocal yes/no decision to save installment data.
It stated that players could use their credit cards to request refunds. On the off chance that a cardholder sees an unapproved exchange on their proclamation, they might report it to their bank to have it switched,” the organization said in its explanation.
Epic claimed that in order to safeguard children, it had developed features such as parental controls that were simpler to access, a PIN requirement that required parents to authorize purchases, and a daily spending limit for children under 13.
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The FTC stated that Epic employees had voiced concerns regarding the company’s child-friendly default settings, arguing that voice chat should be optional. The FTC said that voice and text talk should be switched off naturally.
The Center for Digital Democracy’s Jeff Chester expressed satisfaction with the settlement, stating, “Kids should also have their data privacy rights better respected through this enforcement of the federal kids data privacy law (COPPA).”
