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| Game companies are required to avoid harmful designs |
The Democratic Party has urged some of the biggest toy companies to better protect children by extending new UK design rules to children in the US.
Regulations may prohibit companies from selling in-game loot boxes to minors as well as other restrictions.
In letters to dozens of major game companies, including Blizzard, Epic Games, Riot, Microsoft and Nintendo, lawmakers urged executives to extend the UK's new design rules to children in the US.
The lawmakers wrote: “Congress must act urgently to pass tough data protection laws for children and teens in the twenty-first century.”
"As we work toward this goal, we urge you to extend any privacy-enhancing measures you take to children and adolescents in the United States in order to comply with the AADC," they added.
The new rule in the UK is called the Age-appropriate Design Act, which will be introduced next month and applied to social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as in games like Roblox and Minecraft.
New regulations require companies to design their products in the best interests of children, have stricter privacy settings and policies for different age groups, and limit warning techniques that are commonly used to encourage users to continue using the service.
UK law does not protect children in the US. But in the letter, lawmakers called on 12 companies to voluntarily take the same safeguards against Americans.
Game companies are required to avoid harmful designs
It should be noted that the legislature believes that the ESRB's guidance on stolen money is insufficient to protect children from tampering with in-game purchases and that companies should adopt stricter regulations in the US under the new UK regulations.
The lawmakers wrote that the proliferation of microtransactions has led to an increase in parents' credit card bills. Loot boxes encourage buying before a child knows what's inside, like a toy.
The United States has laws that protect children's privacy, the most famous of which is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. However, the law applies to children under the age of 12.
UK regulations apply to minors under the age of 18.
The Child Privacy Act was reinstated earlier this year. This includes elements of the UK's age-appropriate design codes.
The bill bans behavioral advertising to children and requires companies to design their products in the interests of young people.