Riot Games' Vanguard anti-cheat system is in hot water, and for once, it's not just angry gamers complaining. This might actually be a legal problem.
Here's the situation: Vanguard, Valorant's kernel-level anti-cheat software, has been reported to crash other games on players' PCs. Most notably, it's been locking and corrupting Valve's Deadlock, preventing players from even repairing or reinstalling the game. That's not just inconvenient—that's software actively interfering with other applications.
What's Kernel-Level Access, Anyway? Let me explain this in non-nerd terms. Most programs on your computer operate at "user level"—they can only access what you give them permission to access. Kernel-level software operates at the deepest level of your operating system, with basically unlimited power over your entire PC.
Vanguard runs at kernel-level 24/7, even when you're not playing Valorant. It does this to catch cheaters who try to hide their hacks at the same level. The problem? That level of access means Vanguard can—and apparently does—interact with other programs in ways that cause crashes and file locks.
The EU Law Angle This is where it gets spicy. Two EU directives might apply here:
Directive 2013/40/EU covers "attacks against information systems." The relevant part defines unauthorized access or interference with information systems as potentially illegal. When Vanguard modifies, crashes, or locks executables for games it has nothing to do with, it could arguably fall under this definition.
Directive 2024/2853 deals with liability for defective products. If Vanguard is causing damage to other software on users' systems, Riot could potentially be held liable.
Now, I'm not a lawyer—I'm a speedrunner who writes about video games. But the optics here are bad. Software that operates with kernel-level privileges should be held to an extremely high standard, especially when it's running on millions of PCs across the EU.
