With the planned “Digital Fairness Act” (DFA), the European Union not only wants to regulate access to social media for children and young people. The new regulation is also intended to close gaps that arose in the previous application of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA). These two particularly affect large providers such as Google, Shein and Temu.
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However, there have so far been no formal investigations or even penalties under the DMA or DSA against smaller companies, such as online retailers. That should change with the Fairness Act, as Justice and Consumer Protection Commissioner Michael McGrath said in Brussels this week, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Game manufacturers should also be covered by the new regulation. This was already apparent when the “Stop Killing Games” initiative was rejected by the Commission in mid-June. Based on the previous rules, the committee felt that it was not legally in a position to oblige game manufacturers to operate servers long-term or to disclose source code.
Combating subscription traps and dark patterns
Another focus of the Fairness Act is to ensure that consumers are better protected against manipulation on websites and apps. Subscription traps and “dark patterns” that lead to purchases that may not really be desired should be combated. However, according to Commissioner McGrath, there is “no panacea that solves all problems. I think we will need a package of measures that work together.” There has already been criticism that a new regulation could overlap too much with the DSA and DMA.
However, McGrath sees “gaps in online consumer protection”. The DFA should close this, especially with regard to underage users. The Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig had already spoken out in favor of new rules, as had the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations. The regulation, which was announced at the end of 2024, is now due to be presented in a first version at the end of 2026.
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