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October 12, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Social Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade AgreementSocial Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement

Digital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before 2027

Bram van der Meer
Research Associate, Consumer Protection

Brussels: The Digital Fairness Act is expected from the European Commission before the end of 2026, and the debate over what it should ban is already sharp. Justice and Consumer Protection Commissioner Michael McGrath told the PL&B conference in Dublin that the proposal will arrive this year, aiming to close gaps that existing consumer law leaves open online.

What the Digital Fairness Act aims to fix

The initiative appears in the Commission’s 2026 work programme under the priority of protecting democracy and upholding EU values. Its targets include dark patterns, which are interface designs that steer users into choices they would not otherwise make. It also covers addictive design, unfair personalisation that exploits vulnerabilities, and influencer marketing.

Existing law already covers parts of this ground. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive bans misleading conduct, and the Digital Services Act regulates platform design. Yet enforcers say these rules were written for a different internet. The Digital Fairness Act is meant to turn broad principles into precise, checkable obligations.

Dark patterns and subscription traps

Consumers meet dark patterns daily: a cancellation button hidden behind five screens, a countdown timer that resets, a pre-ticked box for add-ons. The public consultation, which closed on 24 October 2025, showed a clear split. Consumer organisations wanted tighter rules, while platforms such as TikTok argued that only very limited further regulation is needed.

More than 200 civil society groups sent an open letter urging the Commission to deliver an ambitious text. Their case is simple. If a practice is manipulative, it should be banned by name, so that a company cannot argue about whether its design counts as misleading.

How the Digital Fairness Act fits the simplification agenda

The timing is awkward. The Commission is also pursuing simplification, and the Digital Omnibus is moving through Parliament and Council. Its AI component reached a provisional agreement on 7 May, and its GDPR amendments are likely to enter trilogue talks this autumn. McGrath has framed the Digital Fairness Act as good for business as much as for consumers, because one clear rulebook is cheaper to follow than 27 national interpretations.

That claim will be tested. Companies fear new obligations while the Commission promises to cut red tape. The Commission has also said the Act will not single out specific types of online actors or technologies, which means a broad horizontal text that touches retailers, apps, games and streaming services alike.

Questions the Commission must settle

Three design choices will decide how effective the proposal is. The first is whether the Digital Fairness Act uses a list of banned practices or a general clause that enforcers must interpret. The second is how it treats minors, since addictive design affects young users most. The third is enforcement: national authorities already struggle with cross-border cases, so a stronger role for the consumer protection cooperation network would matter.

Subscriptions raise another question. Cancelling should be as easy as signing up, yet the Commission has not confirmed that this principle will appear in the text. Consumer groups will press for it, and businesses will ask for transition time.

What happens next

The proposal should reach Parliament and Council in the final quarter of 2026. Negotiations will then take well into 2027 or later. For now, the Digital Fairness Act is a draft in the Commission’s drawer, and its final shape will show whether Brussels can protect consumers online without adding to the compliance load that its own simplification drive aims to reduce.

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