Microsoft will pay $20 million to the FTC for improperly notifying parents while collecting personal information about Xbox gamers under the age of 13. The FTC claims that between 2015 and 2020, the company retained data on 10 million users, including children, who never finished the sign-up process.
Microsoft has agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission $20 million as compensation for improperly notifying parents while collecting personal information about Xbox gamers under the age of 13.
Microsoft, the corporation that controls the Xbox line of gaming systems, said in a statement that it “is committed to complying with the order.” The agreement, which was made public on Monday evening, must first be authorized by a federal court.
Xbox urges users, even kids, to create a Microsoft “gamertag” account in order to participate in online gaming. When users join up, the corporation records their first and last names, email addresses, and birthdays.
The FTC claims that between 2015 and 2020, Microsoft retained data on about 10 million users, including children, who started to establish accounts and provided some information but never finished the process.
There aren’t many significant digital privacy laws in the US. The first is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which obliges for-profit businesses to notify parents before keeping personal data on children under the age of 13 for any length of time beyond what is required and to provide them the option to stop such data from being shared with third parties.
Microsoft offers a specific kind of account for kids under the age of 13 that needs parental approval. However, the Redmond, Washington-based computer giant only prompted gamers under the age of 13 to obtain their parents’ approval after they had already provided that other information during the years the FTC claims the business violated the order. According to the agency, even if a youngster never went through the sign-up procedure, the corporation kept their information forever.
The issue, according to a Microsoft spokesman, was inadvertent, and she described the system flaw that allowed information to be stored about users who didn’t finish the gamertag sign-up procedure as “a data retention glitch found in our system.” According to the spokeswoman, the corporation is developing a new identity and age validation system.
It wasn’t known if Microsoft advertised to kids who left their accounts unfinished. When questioned about the behavior, the spokesman remained silent. Up until 2019, users may pre-check boxes on the gamertag sign-up form to indicate their agreement to promotional offers and to allow Microsoft Advertising to utilize their account information.
