FBI Arrests Fortnite Player Over Voice Chat Threats
Fortnite's 2023 voice reporting feature, which lets players send the last five minutes of audio to Epic, produced the recording the FBI affidavit relies on, turning an in-game report tool into evidence in a federal threat case.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
A 29-year-old Fortnite player, Edward Fris, was arrested after Epic Games passed his in-game voice chat to the FBI. Playing as WagesOfNinja, he said he wanted to kill someone and would shoot investigators who came to his house. An FBI affidavit treats the recordings as threats under a federal statute. Fris was charged two days after the affidavit was prepared and has pleaded not guilty.
Epic Games recorded the audio through voice reporting, a feature added in 2023 that lets players flag another player and share their most recent five minutes of audio with the company. The FBI investigator's affidavit states that he reviewed the recording, confirmed the transcript, and concluded the statements are threats to injure under Title 18, Section 875(c), which covers threats sent in interstate or foreign commerce.
Fris was charged two days after the affidavit was prepared. He has pleaded not guilty.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- GIGAZINE フォートナイトで「捜査官を撃つ」と発言した容疑でFBIが29歳の男を逮捕