The fines against Gafam for their processing of personal data are linked on both sides of the Atlantic. Two weeks after Meta, which was fined a record 1.2 billion euros by the EU for illegally transferring Facebook user data to the United States, it’s Microsoft’s turn to get your fingers tapped in Uncle Sam’s country.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US competition watchdog, accuses Satya Nadella’s group of having collected the personal data of minors without the consent of their parents. The FTC believes that the Redmond company has let children and adolescents under 13 register for the Xbox online gaming platform, without taking care to alert their parents. In addition, Microsoft is accused of having retained this data. The FTC assures that these practices were spread from 2015 to 2020.
Towards a new identification system on Xbox
By doing so, Microsoft put itself at fault with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which regulates the collection of information from people under the age of 13. years. Therefore, the FTC is asking the group to “take several measures to strengthen the protection of the lives of children using its Xbox system”.
A federal court has yet to validate this request, but Microsoft has already indicated that Xbox “undertook to comply with the decision” of the FTC. In this context, a new identification system dedicated to young audiences is being developed. It will have to incorporate parental consent, otherwise Microsoft could risk a heavier fine.