Microsoft will have to pay a $20 million fine to overcome allegations by US authorities of having collected personal data of minors without parental consent. According to the US Federal Trade Commission from 2015 to 2020 the group would have collected data from children under the age of 13 who signed up for its Xbox game system without parental permission, keeping the information. To open an account, users had to provide their first and last name, an email address, and date of birth. A practice that, for the Ftc, violated the Children’s online privacy protection act which instead requires parental consent.
“Our action makes it easier for parents to protect their children’s privacy on Xbox and limits the information Microsoft can collect and store about children,” said Samuel Levine, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This action should also make it abundantly clear that children’s avatars, biometrics and health information are not exempt from the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act,” Levine added.
In addition to the fine, Microsoft will be required to strengthen privacy protections for younger Xbox users: Levine added that it will also extend privacy protections to third-party game publishers with which Microsoft shares children’s data.
