Influencers, AI, Addiction: EU Looks To Protect Consumers Online
- On Wednesday, the European Union unveiled the proposed Digital Fairness Act , targeting manipulative online practices including addictive design and loot boxes to protect vulnerable consumers across the bloc.
- Official data shows "problematic" digital practices cause European consumers annual losses reaching 10.3 billion euros . European Commissioner Michael McGrath noted 97 percent of popular platforms utilize "dark patterns" to influence decisions.
- New rules would ban "pay-to-win" or "pay-to-progress" features for minors and require in-game currency transparency. The DFA also demands clear "advertisement" labels on influencer content and mandates platforms allow users to disable "addictive features."
- Violating companies could face fines of up to 6 percent of annual worldwide turnover under the DFA. European Consumer Organizations' Agustin Reyna hailed the proposal as a "much-needed tool to give consumers back control" over online spending.
- Gaming organizations have already criticized the DFA as "unworkable" while the proposal enters legislative negotiations. Experts suggest adoption by late 2027 could reshape digital experiences on YouTube, TikTok, and Meta platforms.
48 Articles
48 Articles
Video game industry lobby groups have protested against the proposed digital fairness legislation.
Loot boxes, influencers, and addictive features face an EU crackdown
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, undi…
EU to make addictive app features easier to turn off
The EU yesterday unveiled new rules to crack down on influencer marketing, ban online features that trick Europeans and force platforms to give users the right to turn off “addictive” features. The EU already has a raft of laws covering data protection, artificial intelligence and online content, bu
The EU is introducing a Digital Fairness Act to protect consumers, while the gaming industry fears the new rules will threaten its competitiveness.
The Co-Chairs of the European Commission on Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Wirkunen, presented the EC initiative to prohibit children from having access to video games with the purchase of Lutboxes and virtual currency for real money.In Brussels, an initiative to prohibit minors from having access to video games with the Pay-to-Win strategy and selling gambling currency or objects for real money was submitted to TASS. "…
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