Fortnite Company Fined Half a Billion Dollars

What's the story?

• The Federal Trade Commission now requires Epic Games Inc, creator of the video game Fortnite, to pay $520 million for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and deceiving players into making unwanted purchases through misleading design features.
• With 400 million users worldwide, Fortnite is a wildly popular game that is free to download but allows users to purchase items within the gameplay. 

The breakdown of the fines 

• Epic was fined $275 million for violating COPPA, which is the highest sum in history for an offense of this kind. The money will be disbursed to the U.S. Treasury. 
• They will pay $245 million to reimburse consumers for tricking them into making unwanted purchases through design tricks known as “dark patterns.”

Epic's problematic tactics

• Fortnite allows users to connect via voice and text by default, connecting them to strangers. There have been cases of verbal and sexual harassment, as well as bullying, due to this feature. 
• Epic was charged with using privacy-invasive default settings that collected children’s personal details without parental consent.
• In addition to the fines, Epic will have to create an opt-in option for voice and text contact and will need parental consent to obtain and store the personal data of children under 13.

Do you think the fine went far enough? Does the punishment fit the crime?

—Emma Kansiz

(Photo Credit: Epic Games)