The European Commission is preparing a new law to protect consumers in the European Union, through which it wants to ban ten manipulative practices used by websites and applications

The European Commission will present on Wednesday the draft Digital Fairness Act, new legislation intended to protect consumers in the European Union from manipulative practices used by websites and apps. The proposal could introduce fines of up to 6% of global turnover and would apply across all 27 member states, following approval by the European Parliament and national governments.

The draft targets ten types of “deceptive patterns” (“dark patterns”), including fake notifications, misleadingly calculated discounts, automatically ticked options, hidden costs and complicated procedures for cancelling subscriptions. Fees displayed only at the end of an order, false claims about product stocks or popularity, and the automatic conversion of free trial periods into paid subscriptions would also be banned.

Children would receive additional protection. Loot boxes and “pay-to-win” mechanisms would be disabled by default, while advertising based on profiling minors would be banned. Users could disable autoplay, irrelevant notifications and chatbot features that artificially keep them engaged. Companies would also have to provide a clear button for terminating contracts, as well as access to a human operator.

For the first time, the act would also regulate AI-based shopping agents. The Commission estimates that the measures could prevent consumer losses of €88.4 billion between 2025 and 2035. The initiative is opposed by Germany, which prefers amending existing legislation instead of introducing a new general regulation.