The European Commission proposed the Digital Fairness Act, a regulation that plans to curb addictive design features, manipulative dark patterns, and AI systems that simulate relationships, with companies facing large fines for noncompliance5,6.
AI bots and addictive features
The draft law would require companies to let adults disable addictive features and would target AI systems that simulate relationships, according to Bloomberg. Social media platforms face what Bloomberg described as a fresh wave of EU curbs, this time aimed at addictive features and artificial intelligence chatbots.
The act takes the form of an EU regulation, meaning it would apply directly across all member states without national transposition4. It would prohibit dark patterns outright under a new blacklist that the Commission would be empowered to expand over time. The regulation would also ban personalised advertising and pricing targeting minors or exploiting sensitive data, force influencers to disclose paid promotions, make digital subscriptions easier to cancel, and give consumers a right to interact with human customer service3.
Michael McGrath, the European Commission's Consumer Protection Commissioner, said the package "represents the most significant reform of EU consumer protection rules in more than 20 years," noting that existing consumer rules were developed before ecommerce, the attention economy, and the use of personal data for marketing.
Industry pushback on overlap
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) warned that the act introduces overlapping obligations, parallel enforcement, and unnecessary complexity before current rules have been fully enforced2. CCIA Europe noted that the DFA introduces new requirements in areas already covered by the Digital Services Act, the Consumer Rights Directive, and the General Data Protection Regulation, including deceptive design, addictive design, and personalised advertising.
The association pointed to the recently proposed EU KIDS Act, which also targets addictive design, as further evidence of duplication risk. CCIA Europe also flagged that specific measures in the proposal raise privacy concerns. The group noted that only the prior week, the Commission's 2027 work programme had emphasised enforcement of existing laws, with President von der Leyen calling for streamlined policies and Commissioner Dombrovskis promising less red tape.
ANALYSIS The explicit targeting of AI systems that simulate relationships marks a regulatory front distinct from the EU AI Act's risk-classification framework, extending consumer-protection logic into the design of conversational AI products. Companies operating AI companion or relationship chatbots in the EU would need to track both regimes.
For the games industry, the most consequential provisions concern paid-for virtual currencies, with Article 14 of the draft addressing that area directly. Article 12 would prohibit targeting minors based on profiling, and Article 13 would prohibit personalised pricing based on profiling where it is reasonably likely to cause harm to minors or vulnerable consumers.
The regulation could lead to large fines, though the specific penalty structure was not detailed in the available reporting.