Fortnite might be one of the greatest battle royale games out there, but Epic Games has its own battle to face.
According to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), Epic Games will pay $520 million to resolve claims that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and used sneaky design techniques known as “dark patterns” to “trick millions of users into making inadvertent purchases.”
Read the full story below and learn more about Epic Games’ colossal mistake.
Epic Games Comes Out As Clean Paying Millions of Dollars
The gaming industry is sure all fun and joy, but sometimes darkness could fall even upon the best of us.
According to a proposed federal court judgment, Epic Games will pay $275 million for allegedly breaking the COPPA regulation. What does this mean?
Based on the latest actions, that is the highest fine it has ever gotten for breaking a regulation (quite controversial, isn’t it?!). Additionally, Epic will return $245 million to consumers for its invoicing practices and the usage of “dark patterns.” Check out FTC’s official post on Twitter:
Epic Games creator of the video game Fortnite, to pay a total of $520 million over FTC allegations Epic violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and deployed dark patterns to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases: https://t.co/yHaQx8VXlu
— FTC (@FTC) December 19, 2022
And that’s not all.
The FTC stated that it is its most significant administrative order to date and the highest reimbursement in a gaming-related dispute. Everything has a beginning, right?!
Protecting the public, and especially children, from online privacy invasions and dark patterns is a top priority for the Commission, and these enforcement actions make clear to businesses that the FTC is cracking down on these unlawful practices; […] our complaints note, Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children, explained Lina M. Khan, FTC chair.
Finally, Epic Games will be stopped from exploiting dark patterns to charge consumers or otherwise charging them without their express authorization, in addition to the $245 million it will pay to reimburse refunds.
Also, Fortnite’s developer will promise to selectively disable accounts it suspects of genuine fraud rather than imposing blanket bans on all accounts that do chargebacks.