#FTC fines #Fortnite maker Epic Games $520M over #children’s #privacy and item shop charges “Epic Games … allegedly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (#COPPA) by deploying “design tricks, known as #darkpatterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases” https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/19/ftc-fines-fortnite-maker-epic-games-520m-over-childrens-privacy-charges/
“FTC also took issue with Epic’s live text and voice communication features, which were set to be turned on by default. The FTC claims that children were exposed to harassment and abuse because of these features, especially since Epic had no way of making sure that children and adults would not be matched together in online play … children have been exposed to bullying, threats, harassment and “psychologically traumatizing issues such as suicide” while playing the game.”