- New reports suggest Fortnite causing divorces
- Claim 5% of 2018 UK divorces caused by Fortnite
- This figure actually refers to all online addictions, including pornography
A slew of articles have recently appeared in the mainstream media that cite Fortnite as a new leading cause of divorce, with 5% of divorces in the UK being linked to marital demise. But is it true? The answer is we can’t be sure, but the strong, pungent smell of clickbait gently wafts.
The claim originates from a company called “Divorce Online” and it is now being reported that Fortnite is now being cited as a cause divorce, with around 200 couples or 5% of UK divorces in 2018 had Fortnite included in the divorce petition.
But this isn’t quite true. Going directly to the source we find that the only direct claim relating to Fortnite is that is has been mentioned in “enquiries”.
What do the facts actually say? Well, they relate to all kinds of online addiction, which include “pornography, online gaming and social media”, and not Fortnite specifically, which means it isn’t clear if Fortnite was actually the cause of any divorces whatsoever. It may have been, but as far as we know from the evidence, it may have been zero.
