Epic Games offering $1 Million Bounty for Proof of Houseparty “Smear Campaign”

HouseParty Logo

Houseparty has become increasingly popular as people look to communicate with friends while following lockdown rules. Recently though, rumors circulated that using the app resulted in users’ accounts on other services like Netflix and Spotify being hacked. The app’s owner, Epic Games, is now offering $1 million to find out who is behind the “smear campaign.”

$1 Million Reward For Info on ‘Smear’ Campaign

Houseparty announced the bounty in a tweet:


Furthermore, in a statement to the BBC, an Epic Games spokesperson said:

We’ve found no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts. As a general rule, we suggest all users choose strong passwords when creating online accounts on any platform.

A look at the permissions page makes it clear that you can connect Houseparty to your Facebook account. You get asked if you want to do this when you first launch the app, and it can be changed later.

Houseparty app permissions page

This is so you can find contacts that are on the service. You can also deny or remove those permissions. The same is true if you have a Snapchat account. However, it does not connect directly with Netflix of Spotify. Obviously, we should always be wary, but for now, the rumors seem to be just that.

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