[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina]The game company Epic Games, developer of the popular game 'Fortnite,' has been fined approximately $520 million (about 678.1 billion KRW) for violating children's privacy and deceiving customers to induce payments.
On the 19th (local time), according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed two charges against Epic Games and reached an agreement on fines and consumer refunds.
First, Epic Games was fined 270 million KRW for collecting personal information of children under 13 without parental consent, violating the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. This is the largest amount ever imposed for violations of the related law. The FTC pointed out that Epic Games allowed children and teenage minor gamers to talk with strangers in game chat rooms, exposing them to issues that could lead to bullying, threats, harassment, and suicide.
Additionally, Epic Games must refund $245 million to consumers for deceiving game users and inducing unintended payments. The FTC criticized Epic Games for allowing child users to make payments without parental permission. Furthermore, it pointed out that Epic Games intentionally hid cancellation and refund functions to make them difficult to find and locked the accounts of customers who disputed unauthorized charges by credit card companies.
Accordingly, Epic Games must establish a privacy protection program and undergo regular audits to protect users. Consumers who believe they have been unfairly charged can request refunds on the FTC website. However, the FTC added that the billing process is expected to take several months or more.
In a statement, Epic Games said, "No developer intends to create a game that leads to this situation," and "We accepted this agreement to take the lead in consumer protection and provide the best experience to users."
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