Microsoft Liable To $20M Penalty For Violation Of Childrens' Privacy

Microsoft Corp MSFT agreed to pay $20 million to settle the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's charges of user privacy violation by collecting personal information from children who signed up for its Xbox gaming system without notifying their parents and illegally retaining their data.
Microsoft agreed to delete any information collected about kids within two weeks without parental consent and notify any video game publishers that seek personal data if users are children.
The company blamed a "data retention glitch" and promised to improve its systems, Bloomberg reports.
Microsoft required anyone using the Xbox Live service to register with a name, email address, and age information. But despite being aware of users under 13, it continued to collect and retain data violating a U.S. kids' online privacy law, according to the FTC.
In addition to its multifaceted safety strategy, the company plans to develop next-generation identity and age validation — a convenient, secure, one-time process for all players.
Microsoft joins the ranks of dozens of other companies, including Amazon.com Inc AMZN, Alphabet Inc's GOOG GOOGL Google, and ByteDance Ltd's TikTok, who have faced FTC penalties for collecting data on children without parental consent.
Price Action: MSFT shares traded higher by 0.13% at $336.39 premarket on the last check Tuesday.
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