The European Commission's draft Digital Fairness Act targets manipulative practices such as deceptive pricing, fake scarcity alerts, and undisclosed influencer marketing. Under the proposed measures, platforms must allow users to turn off engagement hooks like autoplay and infinite scrolling, while also providing access to human customer service. Gaming mechanics like pay-to-win features and loot boxes for minors would be barred, though industry groups have already labeled these gaming restrictions as unworkable. The draft legislation must now clear negotiations and approval from both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
Key points
Proposed European Union regulations would ban loot boxes for minors along with pay-to-win…: Proposed European Union regulations would ban loot boxes for minors along with pay-to-win game mechanics.
The legislation mandates that influencers strictly disclose advertising and prohibits the…: The legislation mandates that influencers strictly disclose advertising and prohibits them from exploiting the trust of children.
The proposal must secure formal approvals from the European Parliament and the Council of…: The proposal must secure formal approvals from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before enactment.
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Gaming, social media, and e-commerce platforms are facing a fresh wave of sweeping European Union rules that aim to make “your online experience fairer.” The newly proposed Digital Fairness Act (DFA) published by the EU Commission on Wednesday is designed to tackle practices that exploit consumers into spending more of their time and money online, including misleading prices or availability, addictive design features like gaming loot boxes, undisclosed influencer marketing, and more.
Loot boxes, influencers, and addictive features face an EU crackdown
The proposed Digital Fairness Act seeks to bolster consumer protections for online users.
The proposed Digital Fairness Act seeks to bolster consumer protections for online users.
“The Act will protect consumers of all ages shopping and browsing for goods or services online,” the EU Commission said in a news bulletin. “It will also mean fairer competition for businesses, which are expecting to save EU consumers up to €13.7 billion ($15.1 billion) a year.”
Here’s an overview of what the DFA proposal includes:
- A ban on manipulative marketing practices and so-called “dark patterns” that push consumers into making…
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