Fortnite firm penalised for claims it broke child privacy law
The maker of popular video game Fortnite has agreed to pay $520m to resolve claims from US regulators that it violated child privacy laws and tricked users into making purchases.
The FTC said that the game, which matches strangers around the world for interactive battles, was aimed at children and teens, but despite that, its developers failed to comply with rules regarding parental consent - even after making changes to address internal and public concerns. The FTC said Epic would pay $275m - a record penalty for the consumer watchdog - to resolve the claims it collected child and teen data without parental consent, and exposed children and teens to bullying and harassment by turning on voice and text communications by default.
The FTC cited a "counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration" that led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorised purchases.
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