The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has fined Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and the owner of the Epic Games Store, a total of $520 million, according to a Reuters report.
The corporation was hit with a record fine of $275 million for breaking child privacy rules and failing to change default settings to be more protective of minors. A further $245 million was predicated on claims that Epic tricked consumers into purchasing stuff they did not desire, according to the charges.
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US Federal Trade Commission Fines Epic Games
FTC Chair Lina Khan issued a statement stating that “Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that deceived Fortnite players, including teenagers and minors.”
In a statement, Epic Games announced that they have done away with random loot boxes and paid-to-win or paid-to-progress items in 2019. It claimed to have a clear yes/no choice for saving credit card information.
It added that it had developed robust features like parental controls and payment authorization that safeguard youngsters online.
Curiously, it appears that the Epic Games developers are the ones who have spoken out against the company’s methods.
The FTC claimed that many workers of the business were troubled by the default settings for kids on the Epic Store, citing items like voice chat being enabled by default as examples.
Voice chat should be disabled by default for youngsters, according to the commission, and failing to do so constitutes an invasion of privacy.