A group of U.S. lawmakers have called on a dozen gaming companies including Epic Games, Microsoft, Walt Disney, Niantic, Sony and Nintendo to create child-friendly designs, in an attempt to protect children from predatory schemes.
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The lawmakers also urged the companies to comply with the U.K.’s Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC) provisions within the U.S.
“It is imperative that Congress acts with urgency to enact a strong privacy law for children and teens in the 21st century. As we work towards that goal, we urge you to extend to American children and teens any privacy enhancements that you implement to comply with the AADC,” the letter noted.
U.K.’s data privacy regulator introduced a set of design guidelines for digital services in February 2020, aimed at protecting children under the age of 18 from cybercrimes and safeguarding their private information. Created under the country’s Data Protection Act 2018, the code contains 15 standards to be followed while developing and designing online services to “ensure the best interests of the child”, according to a statement by U.K.’s information commissioner’s office.
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The letter further added that micro-transactions — often encouraged by nudging — have led to high credit bills for parents. “Loot boxes go one step further, encouraging purchase before a child knows what the “bundle” contains — akin to gambling,” they added, stating that children are uniquely vulnerable to manipulation and peer pressure associated with in-game purchases and loot boxes.
The lawmakers also proposed legislations to extend privacy protections to teens and to amend U.S.’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to cover websites that are likely to be used by children.
