It seems that developer of Angry Birds is now facing a bit of a backlash, as New Mexico’s attorney general, Hector Balderas, filed a lawsuit in federal district court claiming that Rovio Entertainment collects and sells the personal data of children under the age of thirteen.
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According to Jurist, Balderas contends that Rovio Entertainment “aggressively targets young children for financial gain, via the app, through the sale of virtual and physical goods related to the app, and through a variety of tie-in media and merchandise.” He also asserts that Rovio Entertainment “monetizes children by surreptitiously exfiltrating their personal information while they play the Angry Birds Gaming App and then uses that personal information for commercial exploitation.” This is demonstrated by the way that children are shown personalized advertisements, proving that the information has been shared with a third party.
Balderas is sure that this is a safety hazard to children and goes against the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Based on this information, it seems likely that Rovio Entertainment will be penalized, though we don’t yet know how severely.
Angry Birds is one of the most downloaded mobile games out there, with almost 4.5 billion downloads. Its success has been massive and has led to numerous spin-off games, so Rovio Entertainment taking a large blow would be a pretty big deal.
