Epic Games, an American video game and software developer and publisher, has agreed to pay $520 million over purchasing and privacy violations, according to a statement Monday.
The company, which developed the popular online video game Fortnite, will pay a $275 million penalty for violating children’s privacy by collecting personal information about children under 13 and an additional $245 million in refunds for tricking users into making purchases, said the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The $275 million penalty is the largest ever obtained for violating an FTC rule, while the $245 million to refund consumers for billing practices is the FTC’s biggest refund in a gaming case, it added.
The allegations included “deploying design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases,” according to the statement.
Epic Games, in addition, will be required to adopt strong privacy default settings for children and teens, ensuring that voice and text communications are turned off by default, it added.
“As our complaints note, Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in the statement.
Although Fortnite is generally free to download and play, it charges users for in-game items such as costumes and dance moves, according to the FTC. The game has more than 400 million users worldwide.
Source: Anadolu Agency