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adverserath's avatar
adverserath
Rising Rookie
30 days ago

Have EA breached GDPR Article 22 with automated bans?

 Hi everyone,

It looks like anticheat implementatios are issuing bans automatically — and the email says “we noticed your account…” but doesn’t include any case number, proof, or mention of human review.

Under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), companies that restrict access to online content or services must:

clearly explain moderation decisions,

provide a reasoned notice, and

offer an appeal reviewed by a human before issuing the ban


If bans are issued purely by automation and you weren’t told, that’s not compliant with the DSA. Neither the email or the TOS mention the action being automated, which means every ban issued breaches GDPR. 
You can report this to your national authority or the European Commission through the DSA reporting channels, especially if the same process has affected many users.

This isn’t about defending cheating, cheating does ruin games— it’s about making sure enforcement is transparent, fair, and human-checked, as EU law requires. Because far too many people are being issued bans, without any support or justification.

Under GDPR you can also request what evidence they have, which they must provide as it potentially contains your private data. But at least you have something to discuss on the followup appeal. 

3 Replies

  • ApacheVE's avatar
    ApacheVE
    Rising Veteran
    30 days ago

    well if it makes you feel any better Rallied got shadowbanned twice in cod today. haha

  • iLuckyBrad's avatar
    iLuckyBrad
    Seasoned Adventurer
    30 days ago

    There’s no solid proof that EA’s ban system breaches GDPR Article 22, but the lack of transparency, reliance on automation, and unclear human oversight could raise serious compliance concerns. With growing reports of players across multiple games being automatically banned by anti-cheat systems, it appears these decisions may be made without proper human review potentially violating both GDPR and the Digital Services Act, which require transparency and the right to a human-reviewed appeal.

    Overall, the system looks legally questionable and potentially non-compliant.

    If players are being banned by EA’s anti-cheat system because of detections from another game’s anti-cheat software, it points to a flawed and overly broad automated process that lacks transparency, valid consent, and meaningful human oversight making it highly questionable and possibly in breach of GDPR and the EU Digital Services Act.

    Edit: I used anti-cheat as an example because this is already happening with Battlefield, where players have reported being automatically banned through linked or overlapping anti-cheat detections such as FACEIT.

  • Sounds like Activision have the same problem. I've not read their terms of service yet. The EU commission can fine a company upto 6% of annual profit for non compliance too. Not the first company I've pulled up on GDPR compliance. 

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