Epic Games has agreed to pay $520 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that the “Fortnite” videogame developer violated online privacy protections for children and tricked players into making unintended purchases. From a report: The FTC said the agreement consisted of two record-breaking settlements that resolve a pair of civil complaints it was filing against Epic. One, filed in federal court, alleged the company violated the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal information from “Fortnite” players under the age of 13 without notifying their parents or obtaining verifiable parental consent.
That lawsuit also accused the company of illegally enabling real-time voice and text chat communications for children and teens in the game by default. Further, the FTC said Epic put those users at risk by connecting them with strangers, and as a result, some were “bullied, threatened, harassed and exposed to dangerous and psychologically traumatizing issues such as suicide.” Epic will pay a $275 million civil penalty for the alleged COPPA violations, the FTC said, the largest assessed in the commission’s enforcement of the privacy law. Epic didn’t admit or deny the FTC’s allegations as part of the settlements. The commission also said the company agreed to pay $245 million in consumer refunds to resolve the second complaint, which was filed in administrative court. It is the FTC’s largest settlement that bars the use of so-called dark patterns, tactics that trap customers into paying for goods and services and create obstacles to canceling. The agency alleged that Epic deployed a variety of tactics to drive unintended purchases of virtual perks such as outfits and dance moves in “Fortnite,” including the use of counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing button configurations. “These tactics led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges for consumers,” it said.
