Dutch fine Fortnite maker Epic Games for 'pressuring' kids with ads
Dutch authorities slapped a 1.1-million-euro fine on Fortnite maker Epic Games on Tuesday, judging that vulnerable children were exploited and pressured into making purchases in the game's Item Shop.
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) hit Epic Games with two separate fines totalling the equivalent of $1.2 million, after finding that underage gamers «could experience pressure in several ways to make purchases.»
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«The findings… contain significant factual errors about how Fortnite and the Item Shop operate,» the firm said.
The ACM imposed the first fine over phrases in the game such as «Get it now» or «Buy now». Adverts directly exhorting children to make purchases are «an illegal aggressive commercial practice under all circumstances,» said the ACM.
The second fine was imposed for «deceptive» and «misleading» countdown timers that pressured children to make purchases quickly because they believed the item would disappear when the clock hit zero — which was not always the case.
«Children's vulnerabilities were exploited and were thus pressured into making purchases,» said ACM board member Cateautje
