The US Federal Trade Commission has hit Fortnite maker Epic Games with a record-breaking penalty of $520m (£427m) over allegations it previously employed “lax privacy practices” for voice and text chat, and used design tricks to “dupe millions of players” into unintentional purchases.
The eye-opening judgment includes the largest-ever settlement obtained by the FTC regarding the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, as Fortnite allowed in-game chat and user data collection by default.
Fortnite holds a “Teen” rating by the US ratings board ESRB, but the FTC has argued Epic Games knew many of its users were likely under 13 years of age and had not obtained their parents’ consent.
