Game over.
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itortnite is a massive online video game designed for Battles Royale, building modes, and the occasional Ariana Grande concert, but in the five years since its launch, it’s functionally become America’s unregulated metaverse day care. The game has over 400 million users worldwide, a large portion of them minors, and on December 19, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Fortnite has been scamming said minors by design and exposing them to “dangerous and psychologically traumatizing” bullying and content by default. In the largest ever penalty for violating an FTC rule, Fortnite creator Epic Games will pay $275 million for violating the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA). In addition, it’ll have to pay $245 million in refunds to users who were tricked into unwanted credit card spending through “dark patterns.” This amounts in over half a billion dollars in fines and settlements for the video-game giant. So what, exactly, happened?
FTC found that Epic did not adequately procure parental permissions for children to play, meaning that their personal data was collected without proper consent. Furthermore, default text and voice settings meant that underage players have been “bullied, threatened, harassed, and exposed to dangerous and…
