Entertainment

Epic Games was fined 520 million Fortress Heroes

Epic Games was fined 520 million Fortress Heroes

Epic Games, maker of the video game “Fortress Heroes,” agreed today to pay the Federal Trade Commission $520 million for violating children’s privacy laws and inducing unwitting online purchases by minors and adults.

Reuters reported that Epic Games will pay a record $275 million fine for violating children’s privacy laws and must also strengthen default privacy settings for young people. Epic Games will also pay $245 million to refund players for irrational purchases induced by so-called “dark patterns,” the US Federal Trade Commission said.

Epic Games was fined 520 million Fortress Heroes

Epic was found to be deliberately targeting players under the age of 13 of its Fortnite game, subjecting children to harassment and trauma in chat rooms, AFP reported.

The FTC said Epic not only knew that many children were playing Fortress Heroes but also illegally collected information about them without their parent’s consent.

“Epic knew that certain ‘Fortress Heroes’ players were under 13, but failed to act to comply with (U.S. law),” the FTC said.

The FTC also accused Epic of presetting online chat rooms to allow children and teens to hang out with strangers, exposing them to the possibility of harassment.

Epic agreed to pay $275 million for the effort, which would not allow chat rooms unless the parents of players under the age of 13 agreed.

Epic said in a statement that they accepted the settlement because they wanted to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide players with the best possible experience.

Epic stated that the company had previously made various changes after the breach to meet the expectations of players and authorities and that the practices mentioned in the FTC’s allegations are not how “Fortress Heroes” currently operates.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Popular

To Top
$(".comment-click-2594").on("click", function(){ $(".com-click-id-2594").show(); $(".disqus-thread-2594").show(); $(".com-but-2594").hide(); }); // Infinite Scroll $('.infinite-content').infinitescroll({ navSelector: ".nav-links", nextSelector: ".nav-links a:first", itemSelector: ".infinite-post", loading: { msgText: "Loading more posts...", finishedMsg: "Sorry, no more posts" }, errorCallback: function(){ $(".inf-more-but").css("display", "none") } }); $(window).unbind('.infscr'); $(".inf-more-but").click(function(){ $('.infinite-content').infinitescroll('retrieve'); return false; }); $(window).load(function(){ if ($('.nav-links a').length) { $('.inf-more-but').css('display','inline-block'); } else { $('.inf-more-but').css('display','none'); } }); $(window).load(function() { // The slider being synced must be initialized first $('.post-gallery-bot').flexslider({ animation: "slide", controlNav: false, animationLoop: true, slideshow: false, itemWidth: 80, itemMargin: 10, asNavFor: '.post-gallery-top' }); $('.post-gallery-top').flexslider({ animation: "fade", controlNav: false, animationLoop: true, slideshow: false, prevText: "<", nextText: ">", sync: ".post-gallery-bot" }); }); });