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Fornite Creator Epic Games to Pay $520M over FTC Charges of Kids Privacy Violations

The maker of the popular game Fortnite, Epic Games, is facing massive fines from the FTC.

Epic reached an agreement with the FTC to pay $520 million in fines and refunds over allegations that the company violated a law regarding children’s privacy. Additionally, the FTC charged that Epic “dupe[d] millions of players into making unintentional purchases.”

The agreement includes two separate settlements: one for $275 million over allegations that Epic violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The second settlement is for $245 million to refund consumers for the practice of “trick[ing] players into making unwanted purchases.”

As part of the settlements, the FTC is requiring Epic to adopt “strong privacy default settings for children and teens” and turn off voice and text communications for these users by default.

Epic released a statement about the settlement, which read in part, “No developer creates a game to end up here. The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount. Statutes written decades ago don’t specify how gaming ecosystems should operate. The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved, and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough.”

The company explained, “We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.”

As part of the complaint from the FTC, they revealed that Epic ignored more than 1 million user complaints “and repeated employee concerns that ‘huge’ numbers of users were being wrongfully charged.”

Epic said, “We will continue to be upfront about what players can expect when making purchases, ensure cancellations and refunds are simple and build safeguards that help keep our ecosystem safe and fun for audiences of all ages.”