Epic Games settles FTC lawsuit for $520 million over privacy violations and deceptive practices in Fortnite

Epic Games

The FTC has announced that Epic Games will pay two separate record breaking lawsuit settlements focused on the policies and monetization in their games.

The claims allegedly violate children’s privacy laws and refunds for tricking users into making unwanted charges. This is in regards specifically to their video game, Fortnite.

This settlements will also force the company to make changes to their default settings in regards to privacy. The FTC believes the games are invasive and that the interface were deceptive, that they “tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children”.

Epic Games has listed what they will do on their own website, and it’s worth reiterating these are actually two separate settlements.

The first is valued at $275 million as a penalty for violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal data from players under the age of 13.

Meanwhile, the second settlement is valued at $245 million in refunds for “dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases” and that they allowed children to rack up purchases without parental consent.

This case has been public ever since the lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple over third party payment processors, during which it was revealed that the company was being investigated by the FTC.

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Got into gaming thanks to a nice old lady who lived across the street. Enjoy most genres of games.


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