Amidst the Trump administration’s mounting efforts to collect swaths of sensitive data on American citizens—with the help of big-tech crony Peter Theil and his tax-funded spyware company, Palantir—the Federal Trade Commission is valiantly pursuing their mission of “protecting America’s consumers” by cracking down on… Fortnite?
Epic Games—creator of the massively successful player-versus-player video game Fortnite—has been ordered to pay the FTC over half a billion dollars for “tricking users” and “violating children’s privacy.” They alleged that Epic Games has implemented “dark patterns” in their game design to hoodwink players into making undesired purchases of in-game content (cosmetic items, for example), as well as deliberately exposed their player base to “psychological trauma” by merely allowing them to speak to each other in-game through voice chat.
In short, these charges are absurd. Not only are these allegations largely baseless, but they also shift the blame away from parents—who, last I checked, are supposed to be responsible for their own children—and onto the game developer for not taking up this technically near-impossible task upon themselves. Naturally, this overly-strict enforcement of privacy rights does not apply to the state themselves—nor does any meaningful system to check their invasive efforts. This is shameless hypocrisy.
The first of the FTC’s charges against the Fortnite developer accuses them of employing some sort of voodoo-magic known as “dark patterns,” which are essentially just user interfaces meant to trick players into interacting with the game in a certain way. The argument is revealed to be quite flimsy.
The FTC cited the proximity of certain buttons used to make in-game purchases to other buttons—which are not meant to make those purchases—as the primary argument for the charges. They acknowledged, however, that Epic Games began offering a refund option for such accidental purchases shortly after the game’s release, but this wasn’t enough according to the regulators. Rather than pinning the blame for user errors on the users, the FTC claimed Epic did not go to great enough lengths by merely labeling the button to make a purchase with a price and big, bold text that says “PURCHASE.”
But that’s not all. Even more egregious, the FTC is also holding Epic Games liable for purchases made by players using their parents’ credit/debit cards without their consent. They alleged that Epic Games had a responsibility to ensure players were not able to make these unauthorized purchases. They ignored, of course, any responsibility parents might have had for allowing their children unrestricted access to their bank accounts.
The FTC skirted around this issue by claiming players could make purchases “simply by pressing buttons with no parental or card holder action or consent [at which point] Epic automatically billed the parents’ stored payment information…” Now hold on—we’re missing a key bit of information here: how did Epic get ahold of their payment information in the first place? It was, of course, when they voluntarily provided it and accepted the terms and conditions stating that it would be saved.
Of course, we could also conceive of cases in which players stole a parent’s credit card, and did, in fact, make unauthorized purchases without their consent, but the question remains: what would we have the game developer do in this case? Send agents to each of the millions of players’ homes across the nation to stand guard over unattended wallets and purses? Better yet, perhaps the FTC, with their pursuit of “protecting America’s consumers,” should dispatch these guardians. It certainly seems to fit their mission.
Obviously, this is ridiculous. However, it once again brings to light that it is not (and should not be) the role of the state—and certainly not the role of a video game developer—to keep American children in line. This is the responsibility of parents, and shifting the blame elsewhere when parents fail to parent their children is bound only to worsen the issue. Alas, this counterevidence was not enough for the tirelessly vigilant FTC regulators. Epic Games has been ordered to fork over $245 million in refunds to players (and parents of players) who claim to have “fallen victim” to their “deceptive practices.” But they didn’t stop there.
The FTC then went on to make claims regarding children’s privacy rights, alleging that Epic Games was collecting data on players under the age of 13 without obtaining explicit parental consent. This does not mean collecting sensitive personal information or biometric data (like Palantir); rather, it means collecting benign data regarding your device type, usage history, etc. This is standard procedure in the industry.
Additionally, we already have an organization dedicated precisely to this issue: the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)—which Fortnite adheres to. Their mission “…is to help consumers—especially parents—make informed choices about the games their families play.” Fortnite’s 13-and-older rating—boldly displayed on the game’s packaging as well as on storefronts online—was surely taken into consideration by America’s responsible, involved parents, right? Naturally, the FTC remained unshaken.
They also alleged that younger players were harmed by their interactions with other players via voice chat—another standard feature of nearly all multiplayer games. This, of course, was blamed, not on parents or the offending players, but on the game developer. Forget Palantir and the ever-engorging surveillance state, this is the stuff we should be worried about according to the lionhearted patriots over at the FTC.
Their solution? Another, yet even higher penalty to the tune of $275 million. And, as if it couldn’t get any more obvious where the FTC’s intentions lie, this hefty sum wasn’t set to go back into the pockets of the poor “victims” of Epic’s transgressions, rather it was sent straight to the US Treasury. Surely, if they truly cared about consumers, they would have returned the loot to them.
The bottom line is this: the state does not care about protecting consumers—they care about control and lining their own pockets while pretending to be wise, impartial regulators. They pursue baseless charges against private companies while, naturally, turning a blind eye to their own efforts to invade the privacy of their own citizens. The FTC—under the guise of doing what parents should be doing themselves—has shaken down a video game developer for half a billion dollars in the name of consumer protection.
And, in a final masterstroke of irony, the FTC proudly commits themselves to a performative contradiction near the end of their Fortnite press release: “The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize.”
