Fortnite has been fined $500 million Atomics

Although Fortnite It is one of the most successful battle royale games in the world, with a large portion of its player base made up of minors, who are highly susceptible to spending money on this free-to-play game. In this regard, the United States Trade Federation or FTC for its short form in English, Epic has authorized Games to “enable” children to spend money

According to the FTC, Epic Games will have to pay two fines for violating child protection rules and using dark patterns. Fortnite. The first of these is for $275 million., this results in a COPPA violation. What was said about this.

“The FTC alleges that these default settings, including Epic’s role in allowing children and teens to play Fortnite with strangers, harmed children and teens. Children and teenagers have been bullied, threatened, harassed, and have experienced dangerous and psychologically traumatic issues, including suicide, while on Fortnite.”

It does not end here, as the regulator will require it Change the default privacy settings for children and teens Fortnite. It must be the adult who supervises the minor’s account and on whose basis the configuration needs to be changed.

For his part, The second fine is $245 million For use in dark patterns and billing practices, a type of manipulation known as dark patterns. The FTC noted that, over the years, Epic Games has implemented a variety of dark patterns intended to trick consumers of all ages into making unwanted in-game purchases. This was what was discussed:

“Players were charged when trying to wake the game from sleep mode, when the game was on the loading screen, or by pressing an adjacent button when trying to preview an item. These tactics have created tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges to consumers.”

total, Epic Games to pay more than $500 million in fines. While the company’s response is unknown at this point, there isn’t much support to oppose them. On a related note, the lawsuit confirms that Fortnite is just as addictive as drugs. Similarly, rumors of a collaboration with Family Guy grew.