Alleged misuse of children's data lands Subway Surfers studio in court
New York and California lawsuits filed against Sybo and Kiloo
Parents in two American states have taken action against a part of Danish games developers, claiming that their titles shared children's personal data with other companies.
Sybo Games and Kiloo Games face lawsuits filed in New York and California, citing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, Gamasutra reports. The suit appears to take issue with several titles including Subway Surfers, an endless runner co-developed between the two studios that has racked up over 1bn downloads.
The lawsuits are also directed at several advertising companies. The crux of the issue is that Subway Surfers and other games reportedly passed on personal data of children under the age of 13 to these advertisers, thus violating the COPPA.
The plaintiffs - Tamara Draut in New York and Michael McDonald in California - are both not only seeking damages in a trial by jury, but also a court order to prevent Sybo and Kiloo from repeating this offence and the prevention of other companies sharing such data.
With kids making up a significant portion of mobile audiences, games developers would do well to ensure their titles are compliant with COPPA. Previous violations of the act have led to fines of $500,000 for Broken Thumbs, $300,000 for TinyCo, and $250,000 for RockYou.