The creator of Fortnite, Epic Games, has been fined $520m for illegally collecting kids’ information and misleading young players into making purchases unknowingly.
As reported by the New York Times’ Natasha Singer, Epic Games is set to pay a record $520m settlement covering two separate charges: illegally collecting information from children, and ‘tricking’ players into making purchases while playing Fortnite.
The American video game and software developer and publisher, which is also the creator of Fall Guys and Rocket League, has agreed to pay $275m over accusations it had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. According to reports, Epic Games failed to obtain parental consent before collecting data from Fortnite players aged 13 or younger. The Federal Trade Commission, which filed the legal complaint, also alleges that parents were made to ‘jump through hoops’ to have their kids’ data deleted, and in some circumstances did not uphold deletion requests.
Epic Games will also pay $245m back to consumers it is accused of tricking into making purchases while playing Fortnite using so called ‘dark patterns’. In a separate complaint, it is revealed that these dark patterns, combined with a ‘counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing’ user interface, meant players were charged hundreds of millions of dollars for purchases they didn’t know they were making – sometimes with a single click.
The record settlement – which is $350m more than Google’s previously record-breaking fine for illegally targeting children with ads on YouTube – also stipulates that Epic Games adhere to high-privacy default settings for children and teens, such as turning off live text and voice chat settings for younger players.
