{"id":24800,"date":"2022-12-20T17:53:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T17:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/20\/epic-games-fined-520m-for-alleged-privacy-violations-unwanted-charges\/"},"modified":"2022-12-20T17:53:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T17:53:25","slug":"epic-games-fined-520m-for-alleged-privacy-violations-unwanted-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/20\/epic-games-fined-520m-for-alleged-privacy-violations-unwanted-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Games Fined $520M for Alleged Privacy Violations, Unwanted Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(Photo: Erik Mclean\/Unsplash)<\/small><\/center>
(Image: IGDB)<\/small><\/center>Epic Games, the developer and distributor best known for Fortnite, has found itself in the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s (FTC) bad graces. The consumer protection agency has charged Epic $520M for multiple privacy violations and for \u201ctricking\u201d users into making purchases they didn\u2019t actually want.<\/p>\n

According to the FTC, Epic violated the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal data from users under 13 years of age. COPPA requires that software publishers must notify children\u2019s parents of personal data collection and<\/i> obtain consent for said collection prior to gathering or storing any of it, something Epic allegedly failed to do. When a parent reached out to Epic to have their child\u2019s information deleted, Epic reportedly made the parents \u201cjump through unreasonable hoops\u201d while failing to pursue some requests altogether.<\/p>\n

The company is also said to have automatically enabled real-time voice and text chat communications within Fortnite, which made children vulnerable to harassment and discussion about sensitive topics like suicide. In 2017, some Epic employees expressed concern over young users\u2019 vulnerability and urged the company to disable voice and text communications by default, using children\u2019s sexual harassment experiences as justification for the change. Epic refused to change its default communications settings; while the company did make it possible to manually disable voice and text chats, they reportedly made it difficult to do so.<\/p>\n

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(Image: IGDB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Separate from its alleged affronts to children and their parents, Epic is said to have used dark patterns\u2014interface design that manipulates users into doing something they wouldn\u2019t have otherwise done\u2014to dupe Fortnite players into making purchases they didn\u2019t really want. The FTC says Epic made it far too easy for young players to purchase V-bucks (Fortnite\u2019s in-game currency) with the press of a button without verification from a parent or the cardholder. When users attempted to dispute those charges with their banks, Epic allegedly locked those users\u2019 accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortnite\u2019s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button,\u201d the FTC\u2019s statement<\/a> reads. \u201cFor example, 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. These tactics led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FTC has charged Epic $275 million for its children\u2019s privacy violations. On top of that, Epic must refund $245 million\u2014the largest gaming-related refund the FTC has ever ordered\u2014in charges related to its manipulative interface design. Epic has additionally agreed to adopt \u201cstrong privacy default settings for children and teens,\u201d delete young users\u2019 personal data, and revamp Fortnite\u2019s design to enhance purchase clarity. The company will no longer be able to lock user accounts once someone has disputed an Epic-related charge with their bank.<\/p>\n

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