Apart from the monetary penalty, Epic Games will also need to change Fortnite’s default privacy settings to protect children and teens who play the game. “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,” Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said. A statement by the FTC said just over half of the settlement sum — $275 million — would go to the U.S. Treasury for Epic’s violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The other half — $245 million — will be used to refund Fortnite gamers who were tricked into unintentionally making in-game purchases. This is the largest fine the FTC has levied on a company for violating COPPA, which came into effect over two decades ago.
Privacy Violations on Fortnite
Fortnite is an immensely popular, free-to-play video game with over 400 million users globally. A significant number of Fortnite’s users are children and teens. In a complaint filed with a U.S. district court in North Carolina on Monday, the FTC accused Epic Games of violating COPPA by collecting the personal data of children under the age of 13 who played Fortnite. This was done without the consent of parents or guardians. According to the FTC, Epic Games also created “unreasonable hoops, and sometimes failed to honor” requests from parents for the company to delete their children’s data. The FTC said Fortnite’s default live chat on-by-default setting exposed children to harm. Despite protests from Epic’s employees and reports that it exposed children to harassment, the company failed to change this setting. “Children and teens have been bullied, threatened, harassed, and exposed to dangerous and psychologically traumatizing issues such as suicide while on Fortnite,” the FTC said in a statement. Meanwhile, the FTC is seeking a court order that will ensure Epic Games deletes all information collected from gamers without parents’ notice and consent. The court order also demands that Fortnite changes its live-communication settings for children and teens. Enabling voice and text communication will require parents to turn it on in the game’s privacy settings. Following the announcement of this record-breaking settlement agreement, FTC Chair Lina Khan emphasized the importance of protecting the privacy of children. The settlement comes a few months after Khan signaled the Commission’s intent to strictly enforce the COPPA and crack down on social media algorithms targeting young users. “Firms cannot put growth and revenue over the safety and privacy of their users, especially children and teens. Our actions today underscore @FTC’s [sic] strong commitment to using all of our tools to protect Americans’ privacy and hold lawbreakers accountable,” Khan wrote on Twitter.
Dark Patterns and Unintentional Purchases
Dark patterns are deceptive techniques in a user interface used to trick people into making unnecessary purchases. While Fortnite is free to play, users can buy skins, unlock new dance moves, and buy other items in the game store. The FTC said Epic Games tricked users into unintentionally making purchases and blocked access to their accounts when they disputed these purchases. “Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button,” the FTC stated. “For 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.” Epic Games also engaged in other unlawful billing practices. It allowed children to make in-game purchases without the authorization or consent of their parents, whose credit cards were charged. Epic Games has released a statement explaining how it plans to comply with the new requirements for payments and billing. Epic Games also unveiled new features to address the FTC’s privacy concerns. “No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here,” Epic Games stated.”The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount.”
Refund for Fortnite Gamers in the U.S.
The FTC plans to refund parents whose children may have used their credit cards to make purchases on Fortnite without their permission between January 2017 and November 2018. Gamers who were charged for unwanted items, and gamers whose accounts were locked after disputing charges between January 2017 and September 2022, will also be refunded. If you think you may be eligible for a refund, visit the FTC’s Fortnite refunds page to learn more. We recommend reading our Fortnite safety guide to learn how to keep your children safe while they play this game.
