epic games Fined $520 million for alleged child privacy and microtransaction violations. fortnite From the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Two civil lawsuits allege that the developer collected data from her child player’s profile under the age of 13 and forced the player to make unintentional purchases.
FTC Fines Epic Games for Fortnite Violations of US Laws
The $520 million settlement covered two different lawsuits from the FTC, it said. wall street journalThe first said Epic violated the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal data from Fortnite accounts belonging to children under the age of 13 without parental consent. There were also concerns about the voice and text chat communications of This allows children to communicate with unfamiliar adults, putting them at risk of bullying, intimidation and harassment. For these allegations, which Epic has denied, the company fined him $275 million.
The remaining $245 million in fines were apparently for using “dark patterns.” This is a tactic used to trap customers into paying for goods and services and making it very difficult to cancel those purchases. These dark patterns included inconsistent button configurations, obscure cancellation and refund functionality, and account locking for anyone who disputed card charges.
This finding will force Epic to make changes to Fortnite to further protect its users and could be the reason for measures like the one recently introduced. cabin account For players under the age of 13.
