EU Commission to Propose Digital Fairness Act

Key points

• McGrath said the Digital Fairness Act will be presented by the end of this year to make EU consumer protection law fit for the digital age.
• The Digital Fairness Fitness Check published at the end of 2024 showed problematic online practices cause close to 8 billion euro a year in consumer harm.
• The Check found 97% of popular websites and apps use dark patterns, and 2 in 5 consumers face difficulties managing digital subscriptions.
• The DFA could cover dark patterns, misleading influencer marketing, unfair personalisation and personalised pricing, subscription management, drip pricing with dynamic pricing, and AI chatbot loops.
• The Commission held a public consultation and is examining whether certain attention- and spending-maximising features should be off by default and whether loot boxes should be prohibited for minors.
• An EU Children's Participation Platform survey of almost 5,000 12-17 year olds found 48% want rules on attention-maximising features, 58% want better protection from personalised advertising and pricing, 69% say influencers should only promote safe and appropriate products to children, and 72% favour age verification on social media.
• The Commission has issued preliminary DSA findings against Meta and TikTok concerning minors' use, addictive design and safety standards for minors' accounts.
• The EU Age Verification App is ready for deployment and being tested in several Member States including Ireland; discussions on a digital age of majority are ongoing.