FORTNITE creator Epic Games will be forced to pay over $500million (£400million) in fines and refunds by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US.
The FTC has ruled that the company has broken the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and “deployed design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases.”
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Epic Games will be fined $275million (£225million) for its breach of the Protection Act.
The ruling states that while Fortnite is rated for teens, Epic Games knowingly allows children under the age of 13 to play without parental consent.
The report calls Fortnite a “child-directed online service” and claims that through surveys, player data, and the marketing of toys, Epic Games knows that children under the age of 13 make up a portion of the player base.
By collecting data on users and allowing voice and text chat as default, it is claimed that Epic Games put children’s privacy at risk.
Alongside the fine, the default settings must also be changed so that messaging and chat functions are disabled.
It will also force Fortnite players under the age of 13 to provide verifiable consent from a parent in order to use these functions.
The second half of the order asks Epic to refund customers $245million (£200million) for use of “dark patterns and billing practices”.
The commission alleges that Epic Games used unlawful practices to “trick” players into making online purchases.
It states that Epic Games has implemented a “counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration” that encourages players to make accidental purchases.
The report also claims: “Players could be charged while attempting to wake the game from sleep mode, while the game was in a loading screen, or by pressing an adjacent button while attempting simply to preview an item.”
Further, the report states that those who dispute the claims with their card holders were often locked out of their accounts which could include other in-game purchases.
Samuel Levine, director of the bureau of customer protections, wrote in a statement: “Epic put children and teens at risk through its lax privacy practices, and cost consumers millions in illegal charges through its use of dark patterns.”
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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