Fortine developers fined $520 million
Fortnite maker Epic Games has been fined $520 million after being accused of exposing young players to potential harm. The company, valued at $32 billion in April, was also accused of cheating users and forcing them into unwanted purchases.
The maker of the popular online video game Fortnite agreed to pay a record settlement to resolve allegations that it violated children’s privacy, exposed children and teenagers to potential harassment and deceived players of all ages into making unwanted purchases in the game. The Federal Trade Commission announced on Monday that North Carolina-based Epic Games will pay a total of $520 million to settle allegations that it collected personal information from children without first obtaining their parents’ or guardians’ consent. Epic is also accused of exposing children and teenagers to bullying, threats, harassment, and dangerous and psychologically traumatic questions, such as suicide, through the game’s default live voice and text feature.
Players of all ages were also deceived when purchasing online credits through what the FTC called a “non-intuitive, inconsistent, and confusing” button configuration, a phenomenon known as “dark patterns” that allegedly earned Epic hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges to consumers. As part of the settlement, Epic did not admit or deny the allegations but agreed to revise its privacy policies and chat and messaging features and change the configuration of its user billing practices for games.
“Epic exposed children and teenagers to risks with its lax privacy protection practices and caused consumers millions of dollars in illegal charges by using dark patterns,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau, in a statement. “Based on the proposed orders announced today, the company will be required to change its default settings, refund consumers millions, and pay a record fine for abusing personal information protection.”
Sources: nbcnews.com, photobank
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