EU draft would ban ten manipulative online design practices

The European Commission plans an outright ban on ten types of manipulative design used by websites and apps, according to a draft Digital Fairness Act. The proposed rules would target practices including misleading stock warnings, pre-selected purchases and persistent prompts to reverse a decision.

The listed practices would be considered unfair without authorities needing to establish harm in each individual case. The draft would also prohibit unavoidable charges being revealed only at checkout and allow the Commission to impose fines reaching 6 per cent of global turnover.

For children, the proposal would prohibit paid loot boxes and pay-to-win mechanisms in video games. Virtual currencies would need to display their value in real money and would be disabled for children by default unless parents gave permission. The prohibition on advertising using profiles of minors would extend to all traders.

Subscription providers would have to offer a cancellation button, obtain active consent before converting free trials into paid services and send reminders ahead of automatic renewal. Consumers would also gain access to a human customer-service representative. Users could disable autoplay and certain engagement features, including simulated relationships with chatbots.

The Commission’s impact assessment projects €88.4 billion in avoided consumer financial losses over 2025–2035. A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on leaked material.

Germany has challenged the approach, arguing in a non-paper dated 14 October that existing consumer directives should be amended instead. The draft would replace the 2005 Unfair Commercial Practices Directive with a regulation applying directly across the EU’s 27 countries. Agreement from the European Parliament and EU governments would be required, with application beginning 12 months after entry into force.