Banned for gaming

I emailed  "eaprivacy" they came back with more information.

Dear Player,     

We are writing in response to your request for information relating to your Battlefield 2042 sanction. The following is intended to satisfy the right to access personal information that you may have exercised under applicable law.

WHAT WE SENT

Please click on this LINK to access and download the file containing information about your Battlefield session activity. Please note that the download link will expire after seven days.

WHAT THIS MEANS

We detected inappropriate activity during one of the sessions identified in the attached file. For example, we may have detected the use of inappropriate third-party tools or other patterns of activity. To protect the rights of EA and ensure a fair experience for your fellow players, this is the extent of the data we will provide regarding your specific sanction. Our legal basis for withholding additional information is provided further below.

REASONS FOR YOUR SANCTION

You were sanctioned for one or more of the following violations:

• Our anti-cheat technology detected that you used an unauthorized software application that facilitates cheating during one of the sessions identified in the attached file. Players may not use tools like free or commercially available cheat engines and/or specialized scripting software to augment gameplay, as this provides them with an unfair advantage and does not foster a fair gaming environment.

In the logs they provided, I had four IPs. Two IPs from two different internet providers, one in 2024 and one in 2025. The other two IPs were in 2024 from my VPN. There are times I left my VPN on after all by accident. I only had two connections on my VPN in 2024.

• Our team detected that you are intentionally engaged in “boosting”. Boosting can include win, or kill trading, abusing game features in an unintended manner, or otherwise manipulating in-game systems with or without the collaboration of others to gain an unfair advantage.

THIS is BS ^

• Our team detected that you engaged in excessive teamkilling. In some game modes, it is possible to kill your teammates – a behavior referred to as “teamkilling.”  When this occurs excessively, it prevents the normal flow of gameplay and degrades the game experience of others.

THIS is ALSO BS. I never went out of my way to team kill anyone. If they ran in front of crossfire, then they died, but I always revived.

Our sanctions are guided by the principles contained in EA’s Positive Play Charter, as well as the specific Battlefield Community Guidelines.  Please note that violations of these rules are forms of cheating that result in the game being less fun and fair for other players.  They are also breaches of our User Agreement.

IF YOU HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS

If you have specific questions about your privacy or the processing of your personal information, you may contact EA’s Privacy team at [edit: email address removed].  Please note that our Privacy team will not discuss or resolve sanctions-related issues.

ADDITIONAL DETAIL

Please see additional detail for your personal information request below.  The following is legally required in some jurisdictions as part of our response to a data access request.

Legal basis for excluding some information relating to your sanction:

We have excluded information that may adversely affect the rights or freedoms of others, such as EA and your fellow players. For example, we have excluded information that:

• could impair the security and integrity of EA products and services, such as details of our mechanisms designed to detect cheating and/or other violations of our Positive Play Charter;
• identifies our employees, so that we can safeguard their privacy, and protect them from harassment or other potentially adverse actions;
• could compromise our trade secrets and intellectual property rights; and is subject to third-party confidentiality obligations.

Purposes of processing: We are committed to providing the best player experience.  Collecting personal information helps to operate our business and to enhance and personalize your game experience, provide you support, and personalize our communications with you. Learn more about how we use your information in our Privacy & Cookie Policy.

Your rights: You may have the right to ask for your personal data to be rectified or erased, processing to be restricted, and to object to your data being processed by EA. The extent to which each of these rights applies is determined by applicable law.  If the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to the processing of data about you, please see Articles 12, 16 – 22 of the GDPR for further detail.  If you have a concern about how we collect and use information, please contact us. Alternatively, you also have the right to contact your local Data Protection Authority.

Sources of personal data: We collect some information from you when you provide it to us directly, such as via an online form or when you talk with our customer experience team. We and our third-party partners also use other technologies to collect information. Read about the ways we collect data in our Privacy & Cookie Policy.

Categories of personal data processed: The categories of personal information we collect depend on what EA products or services you use and how you use them. See the categories of data we collect in our Privacy & Cookie Policy.  

Categories of third parties to whom your personal data may be disclosed:  We do not disclose your personal information with third parties except as described in our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Please see below for a few examples and further detail about some of these third parties and the purposes of our sharing.

• Service providers: We will disclose your personal information to third-party service providers to operate our business, including but not limited to conducting market surveys (e.g., Kantar), facilitating credit card processing (e.g., PayPal), sending emails (e.g., Salesforce), preventing fraud, storing your data in the cloud (e.g., Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure), operating and fulfilling promotions (e.g., MLG, ESL), and providing customer support (e.g., Salesforce). We require third-party service providers to process the data according to EA’s instructions, and consistent with EA’s Privacy & Cookie Policy.
• Analytics and Advertising providers: We rely on third-party advertising and analytics providers to monitor our products and services, and provide advertising on our behalf. These providers may collect information that identifies the device you use to access our products and services. A list of these providers, along with their opt-out instructions, is available in our Privacy Appendix. You can also disable targeted advertising provided by third-party partners at any time by changing your privacy settings.
• Operating Systems and platforms: We may share your personal information with the operating systems and platforms used by our products and services as described in the EA Privacy & Cookie Policy. These platforms may also independently collect data about you while you interact with our products and services. For instance, if you play EA games on a console, the console developer may track your play behavior independently from any data collection from EA. Consult with your platform or operating system provider for information regarding their collection of your information.
• Game Partners: We may provide you with the opportunity to share your email address or other information with a Game Partner. We will give you notice of the data that will be shared prior to your opting in. If you choose to share your personal information with a Game Partner, the Game Partner will process your personal data in accordance with its privacy policy, which can be found on its website. To revoke your consent to a Game Partner’s further processing of your personal data, please follow the instructions provided by the Game Partner in its privacy policy.
• Social Networks: We do not share your personal information with third-party social networks without your consent. If you choose to link your EA Account or mobile game account to a social network, you will have an opportunity to review the data being shared prior to connecting. You can unlink your third-party social media account at any time. If you would like to opt-out of targeted EA advertising on third-party platforms, please visit the Privacy Settings in your EA Account.
• Government entities: We do not share your personal information with government entities, unless it is either required by law or we determine in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce our rights, property, or operations, or to protect the rights or safety of our players, EA, or third parties.
• Consumer Data Resellers: We do not share personal data with consumer data resellers.

The retention period for personal data or the criteria used to determine that period: We retain personal data as long as it is necessary to provide our products and services to you.  We retain information beyond this period if necessary for legal, operational, or other legitimate reasons.

Information security, including for information collected outside the United States: The security of our players’ information is a priority at EA, and we take a range of measures to help ensure it remains protected, including the encryption of sensitive information. We store and process your information in the United States and other countries where we operate. When we do this, we utilize technical, physical, and administrative safeguards to meet the requirements set by various privacy laws, such as the EU GDPR.  Where appropriate, EA relies on mechanisms under applicable laws, such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and other safeguards to enable international transfers. EA continues to assess the legal regime of the countries to which data is being transferred and, as necessary, updates measures to ensure that we provide adequate levels of protection.

Automated decision making, and information about the logic involved, its significance, and the envisaged consequences: We may use anti-cheat technology within our services, including automated anti-fraud and abuse algorithms.  If you believe your access to our games and/or other services was blocked by this technology in error, please contact us through EA Help.

Data controller:  Electronic Arts Inc., 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065, USA, (“EA”) is the data controller of data processed from EA players using our products and services, including personal data from EU residents.

For players in Switzerland: If you are a player located in Switzerland, please be aware that if you make a further request for data or further investigations are required on our part, we reserve the right to request an advance payment for purposes of cost sharing. Please see Art. 2 of the Regulation to the Federal Act on Data Protection (VDSG SR 231.11) which provides for cost sharing of up to CHF 300.

You can learn more about our data practices and how we use player information in our Privacy & Cookie Policy.

We trust this answers your request to your satisfaction.

Sincerely,

EA Data Protection Officer