Section 312.3 makes it clear that the Rule covers operators of child-directed sites and online services – a determination made by evaluating the subject matter, visual content, use of animated characters or child-oriented activities and incentives, and other factors – and operators of sites and online services who have actual knowledge they’re collecting or maintaining personal information from a child under 13. You definitely don’t want to miss Part 2.įirst, a refresher about what the COPPA Rule requires. Subscribers to the Business Blog can expect a second post shortly that will take a deep dive into how the FTC says Epic used design tricks to zap Fortnite players with unauthorized charges. This post will focus on the FTC’s allegation of COPPA violations and on Epic’s choice of default settings, which allowed strangers to communicate with children and teens under 18. The company will turn over an additional $245 million for allegedly using dark patterns to dupe millions of Fortnite players into making unintentional purchases, the largest FTC administrative settlement ever. Epic will pay a record-shattering $275 million civil penalty for alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. If that isn’t enough to make companies take notice, perhaps these numbers will. Two separate settlements with Epic Games, owner of the massively popular online game Fortnite, send the unmistakable message to business that the FTC means business when it comes to enforcing online protections for kids and fighting back against dark patterns designed to rack up charges without consumers’ express consent. About the FTC Show/hide About the FTC menu items.News and Events Show/hide News and Events menu items.Advice and Guidance Show/hide Advice and Guidance menu items.Competition and Consumer Protection Guidance Documents.Enforcement Show/hide Enforcement menu items."Players should know upfront what they are paying for when they make in-game purchases. UPDATE: Epic Games sent the following statement – "We stopped offering random item loot boxes like Fortnite Loot Llamas and Rocket League Crates because we realized that some players were repeatedly disappointed by not receiving the random items they hoped for," said Tim Sweeney, Epic Games CEO. There's an Epic Games Settlement website made specifically for this case if you'd like to take a peek and learn more. That's going to be an interesting discussion at home for parents and children involved in this situation, of that you can be sure. Perhaps the most interesting bit of the whole settlement has to do with players of the game that made purchases "without parental permission." If said players "are minors that made in-game purchases without parental permission," they can seek partial refunds up to an amount of $50, just like the rest of the players, BUT! They "must agree to the closer of their child's Epic Games accounts."
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