“Fortnite” creator Epic Games will pay $520 million (nearly R91 billion) to settle allegations that it violated a children’s privacy law and tricked people into making purchases, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the company said yesterday.
It will pay $275m for violating the privacy law and has agreed to adopt strong default privacy settings for young people.
It would also pay $245m to refund consumers duped by so-called “dark patterns” into making purchases they did not intend to make, the FTC said.
“Epic used privacy invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children,” said FTC chair Lina Khan in a statement.
“Protecting the public, and especially children, from online privacy invasions and dark patterns is a top priority for the commission,” it said.
REUTERS