The maker of “Fortnite,” Epic Games, has agreed to pay $520 million to resolve claims that it improperly obtained the personal information of children and misled users into making purchases, the Federal Trade Commission and the business said on Monday.
It will implement strict default privacy settings for minors and pay a record $275 million fine for breaking the legislation protecting children’s privacy. According to the FTC, Epic Games will also pay $245 million to reimburse customers who were tricked into making unintended transactions by so-called “dark patterns.”
FTC Chair Lina Khan issued a statement stating that “Epic employed privacy-invasive default settings and misleading interfaces that deceived Fortnite players, including teens and minors.”
The news comes as the organisation has stepped up its efforts to police the gaming sector, last week lodging a complaint against Microsoft over its $69 billion acquisition attempt for Activision.
Epic said that in order to safeguard minors, it has developed features including simpler-to-access parental controls, a PIN required to let parents to approve transactions, and a daily spending cap for children under the age of 13.
According to the FTC, workers of Epic complained about the company’s default settings for youngsters and suggested that voice chat should only be available with explicit consent. Voice and text chat must be disabled by default, according to the FTC.
In a statement released on Monday, Epic announced that in 2019, it will stop using random item loot boxes as well as pay-to-win and pay-to-progress elements when two players compete against one another. Additionally, it said that an explicit yes/no choice to preserve payment information will be included.
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