The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached agreements with Epic Games in 2022 following years of legal wrangling that will eventually see the videogame publisher pay a total of $520 million in penalties and refunds. The allegations were that Fortnite violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and used dark patterns (UI design tricks meant to fool users) to dupe players into purchases.
Epic admitted its mistakes and agreed to pay a $275 million penalty for violating the COPPA rule (the largest penalty ever levied) as well as $245 million to refund consumers affected by Fortnite's "dark patterns and billing practices" (the largest refund amount ever in a videogame matter).
