EU targets online addiction, dark patterns, etc... ‘Digital Process Act’ unveiled

The European Union (EU) has taken aim at key strategies for online services that encourage users to spend more time and money online.

On the 11th (local time), the European Commission unveiled a draft of the 'Digital Fairness Act' (DFA), a new law aimed at curbing unfair digital transaction practices such as so-called 'dark patterns' that lead consumers to spend excessive amounts of money online and spend more money than originally intended.

According to the draft, users will be able to directly block features that lead to compulsive or excessive online use. Companies that violate these regulations may be subject to fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover.

EU authorities have been regulating technology companies with a focus on market monopoly and personal information protection issues through the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), but it appears that they are trying to expand regulation to the core strategy of online services to keep consumers on online platforms.

This regulation is expected to have a significant impact not only on large social media companies such as Google's YouTube, Meta's Instagram, and ByteDance's TikTok, but also on e-commerce services and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.

The EU explained that dark patterns, which are newly subject to EU regulation, may include informing consumers that a specific product is almost sold out or making it difficult to cancel a subscription service.

Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, said the new DFA would "help ensure that companies compete based on the competitiveness of their products and services, rather than their ability to exploit consumers or evade regulations."

This bill must undergo future negotiations and approval by European Parliament members and individual countries, and there is a possibility that some changes will be made before it is adopted as a formal law.