Civil Society Calls for an Ambitious Digital Fairness Act on World Consumer Rights Day

Key Takeaways

• Civil society demands EU‑wide Digital Fairness Act.
• Current EU rules miss manipulative design practices.
• DFA proposes structural fairness duty for digital services.
• Enforcement would require cross‑agency coordination.
• Goal: protect autonomy, equality, and data rights online.

Summary

On World Consumer Rights Day, a coalition of civil‑society groups, led by EDRi, urged the European Commission to adopt an ambitious Digital Fairness Act (DFA). The letter argues that current EU rules—GDPR, DSA and DMA—do not cover manipulative design, addictive interfaces, and exploitative profiling that erode consumer autonomy. It calls for modernising horizontal consumer‑protection law with a structural fairness duty that obliges digital services to respect fundamental rights. The proposal seeks coordinated enforcement across consumer, data‑protection and competition authorities.

Pulse Analysis

The European Union’s digital regulatory framework has evolved rapidly, yet its core consumer‑protection rules remain rooted in pre‑internet legislation. While the GDPR curtails unlawful data processing and the DSA and DMA target platform‑specific risks, none impose a general obligation for companies to design interfaces that respect user autonomy. This regulatory vacuum allows businesses to rely on behavioural nudges, dark patterns, and algorithmic profiling that subtly steer choices, creating a market where consent is often illusory. A Digital Fairness Act would fill this gap by updating decades‑old consumer law to reflect the realities of algorithmic recommendation engines and attention‑maximising designs.

Civil‑society organisations, spearheaded by EDRi, highlight that manipulative digital practices have moved from isolated incidents to systemic business models. Deceptive UI elements, addictive features, and exploitative influencer marketing not only generate financial gains but also inflict mental and social harms, undermining competition and eroding public trust. By framing these tactics as rights‑based violations—targeting autonomy, equality, and data protection—the proposed DFA reframes the debate from consumer inconvenience to fundamental human rights, demanding that firms bear responsibility for the ethical impact of their design choices.

If enacted, the DFA could reshape the European digital economy. A structural fairness duty would compel companies to conduct impact assessments, prohibit exploitative design, and ensure transparent personalisation. Coordinated enforcement across consumer‑protection, data‑privacy, and competition authorities would create a unified front against cross‑cutting harms, reducing legal grey zones. For businesses, compliance would mean redesigning products to meet higher ethical standards, potentially fostering innovation focused on user wellbeing rather than mere engagement metrics. Ultimately, the DFA aims to restore balance, ensuring that digital markets serve people’s rights as much as they serve profit.