The Problem with Fortnite’s Creative Islands

Upon logging into Fortnite, a quick flick of the mouse or joystick will reveal a library of user-generated content crafted using Fortnite’s Creative tools. While many of these are genuinely impressive experiences with considerable audiences, it’s clear that Fortnite is suffering from a severe lack of content moderation.

A sea of low-effort experiences, copyright violations, AI-generated images, and, recently, even hateful content is plaguing Fortnite’s “Play” tab. While the worst offenders are generally removed quickly, it begs the question of why Islands such as the ones highlighted by @Eason825_ below pass Epic Games’ approval system in the first place.

Before an Island appears in Fortnite’s Play tab, a creator must fill out an approval form and provide Epic Games with the thumbnail and private Island code. Epic Games then chooses to approve or deny an Island for publication.

Scrolling through the Trending tab, I found that sixteen of the twenty Islands featured used AI-generated images and/or copyright-protected content. While AI-generated thumbnails themselves, unfortunately, don’t break the Fortnite Island Creator rules, I was able to find an abundance of experiences that did.

Copyright Infringement

Thanks to Epic Games’ “Engagement Payout” system, Island publishers over the age of eighteen can earn money based on the engagement and retention of their creations. Players are forbidden from using copyright-protected and unlicensed content for this very reason.

Despite unlicensed content being prohibited in the official Content Rules and Guidelines, I found forty-nine experiences that used copyrighted art and characters in a single browse of the Play tab. This number doesn’t include thumbnails that feature models from official Fortnite collaborations.

While it’s impossible to determine how many of these creators actively receive payouts from Epic Games, the number of copyright-infringing experiences Epic Games approved reflects its poor moderation.

Offensive Content

The majority of offensive Creative Islands in Fortnite are taken down shortly after being published, thanks to player reports. However, this doesn’t stop them from appearing for potentially thousands of users before being caught.

Most recently, the Play tab has been suffering from a trend that involves creating “Zone Wars” maps based on countries. These feature AI-generated thumbnails with caricatures of the culture they represent. I found several of these while browsing, with player counts in the thousands.

The third-party website Fortnite.gg contains a database archiving every Fortnite Creative experience approved by Epic Games, including ones that have since been removed. While unavailable in the Play tab, I discovered thirteen different “Epstein Zone Wars” Islands that were once approved.

Most shockingly, a “Palestine Zone Wars” Island with a poorly AI-generated image of distressed children made its way to players’ screens in recent days. While the name has been removed, the Island is still accessible through its Island Code, and its creator is still an officially registered partner. The Island is no longer discoverable through regular means, such as the Play tab, however.

Related: Fortnite lingo explained — What terms mean

Community Response

While Creative Islands have had various issues since the introduction of UEFN (Unreal Engine for Fortnite) in 2023, many notable members of the Fortnite community have spoken out about the recent lack of quality control and moderation.

Ben Walker (@bnwkr), a prolific community member who actively works with Team Unite — a development team responsible for some of Fortnite’s most popular Creative experiences — posted “Fortnite’s moderation team is dangerously incompetent,” alongside a screenshot of a problematic Island.

HYPEX (@HYPEX), a Fortnite leaker with over three million followers, posted a similar sentiment. In his post, which can be viewed below, HYPEX calls attention to an Epic Partner who used distasteful content on X to promote their equally repugnant creation.

UEFN designer BrandiBuilds (@Brandibuilds) shared their frustration with innovative Islands being disincentivized due to the rise of low-quality experiences, sharing a screenshot of approved maps from Fortnite.gg’s database.

Creative Designer CCruz (@CCruzFight) posted an example of a thumbnail rejected by Epic Games. In a reply, he states “Epic removed [the thumbnail] because of the tiny arrow on the Health Perk. But AI images that don’t represent your game at all and are wildly racist? Those can pass just fine!”

Fortnite needs to resolve its glaring moderation issue, but don’t let that distract you from the genuine creative talent of the community. We recently discovered a phenomenally imaginative Spongebob x Fortnite concept here.