Fortnite video game maker to pay $520m over privacy and billing claims

The video game company Epic Games will pay a total of $520m in penalties and refunds to settle complaints involving children's privacy and methods that tricked players into making purchases, US federal regulators said on Monday. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that it had secured the record-breaking settlements for two cases from Epic Games, which makes the popular game Fortnite. "Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children," the FTC chair, Lina Khan, said in a statement. Epic Games agreed to pay a $275m fine for collecting personal information on Fortnite players under the age of 13 without informing their parents or getting their consent. It is the biggest penalty ever issued for breaking an FTC rule.