Overview
- The European Commission proposed the Digital Fairness Act on Wednesday, November 11 as a draft regulation that would set new consumer rights and industry obligations for online platforms and e-commerce.
- The draft would force influencers to label paid content, bar them from directly urging minors to buy, ban deceptive user interfaces known as dark patterns, and give users the right to disable addictive features like autoplay and infinite scroll.
- E-commerce measures require full or maximum prices up front to stop drip pricing and guarantee access to a human customer-service contact for complaints.
- The DFA adds gaming-specific rules that would make virtual-currency values clear, disable purchases for minors by default, and prohibit pay-to-win mechanics and loot boxes.
- The Commission estimates consumer savings of about €10–13.7 billion a year and proposes fines up to 6% of global turnover, but industry groups call the rules impractical while lawmakers and consumer advocates raise questions about enforcement and overlap with the KIDS Act as the text moves to member-state and Parliament talks.