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Xbox fined $20M for child privacy violations by FTC

"We believe that we can and should do more," says Microsoft.

Microsoft has been fined $20 million USD for child privacy violations due to information collection practices of Xbox Live by the US’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The FTC made the announcement of the fine earlier this week, saying the fine is in response to violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA).

“[C]hildren who signed up to[the] Xbox gaming system without notifying their parents or obtaining their parents’ consent, and by illegally retaining children’s personal information,” was the cause of the fine, according to the FTC.

Specifically, the FTC has flagged that children who “indicated that they were under 13… were also asked, until late 2021, to provide additional personal information including a phone number.”

Microsoft responded to the fine shortly afterward, with exec Dave McCarthy saying, “regrettably, we did not meet customer expectations”.

“We believe that we can and should do more,” McCarthy continued, “and we’ll remain steadfast in our commitment to safety, privacy, and security for our community.”

McCarthy furthered that the violation was an error “inconsistent with our policy to save that information for only 14 days to make it easier for gamers to pick up where they left off to complete the process.”

According to the exec, the issue has been fixed and the data deleted. McCarthy asserted that the data “never used, shared, or monetized.”


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.