Sony Group Corporation—Brazilian court fined Sony R$40M ($7.8M) for enabling illegal paid loot boxes targeting children
A Brasília federal district court ruled on June 17, 2026 (case 0701554-83.2021.8.07.0013) that Sony violated Brazil's Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) by offering paid randomized loot boxes to minors without adequate warnings, odds disclosure, or age verification. Sony was ordered to pay R$40 million (~$7.8 million) in collective damages, part of a combined R$298 million judgment against Apple, Google, Microsoft, Tencent, EA, Riot Games, Garena, Ubisoft, Valve, Konami, and Nintendo in the same ruling. Companies must implement probability disclosures, reliable age verification, and refund systems for minors' purchases within 90 days of final judgment or face daily fines of R$100,000. The ruling is subject to appeal and also allows individual children to pursue separate compensation claims.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Child Safety | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Consumer Protection | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.429 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Brasília court ruling condemns Sony, Apple, Google and others over loot boxes in children's games
Brazilian federal district court ruling (case 0701554-83.2021.8.07.0013) found Sony and eleven other gaming/platform companies violated the Child and Adolescent Statute via paid loot boxes, ordering R$298 million in combined damages and mandating age verification, odds disclosure, and refund systems.