Video Game Maker Paying $20 Million in FTC Kid-Privacy Case
- FTC said maker of Genshin Impact mishandled children’s data
- Company also accused of deceiving players on cost of prizes
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The maker of the popular video game Genshin Impact will pay $20 million to settle claims it violated kids’ privacy and deceived players about the cost of winning sought-after prizes, the US Federal Trade Commission said Friday.
Singapore-based Cognosphere mishandled data it collected on children who played the game by improperly sharing it with others, including advertisers, in violation of US law, the FTC alleged. The company, which does business in the US under the name HoYoverse, also used a convoluted and chance-based system to obscure the true cost of prizes in so-called loot boxes, the agency said.