The European Union has unveiled its most far-reaching update to online consumer protection in years. On November 11, the European Commission proposed a Digital Fairness Act that would ban loot boxes for minors, outlaw manipulative "dark patterns" and give users the right to switch off features designed to keep them scrolling, playing and spending.
The proposal, presented by consumer protection chief Michael McGrath, would replace the EU's existing Unfair Commercial Practices Directive with a regulation that applies directly in every member state. It is a proposal, not yet law: the European Parliament and the Council must now negotiate and approve the text, and its final provisions could change before it takes effect. Under the draft, the rules would apply 12 months after the regulation enters into force.
Brussels estimates the changes could save European consumers up to €13.7 billion a year, and companies that break the rules in large-scale cases could face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual turnover.
Loot boxes, pay-to-win and virtual currencies
The games industry faces the sharpest changes. Under Article 15 of the proposal, companies offering paid variable-reward systems — loot boxes, wheels of fortune and similar mechanics where players pay for randomised digital items — would have to disclose the probability of obtaining each item and let consumers switch the systems off. Paid loot boxes, along with pay-to-win and pay-to-progress mechanics, would be banned outright for minors.
In-game virtual currencies would also have to show their real-world value, so players can see what a bundle of coins or gems actually costs in euros before they spend. The measures follow years of pressure from the European Parliament, which had called for action on addictive game design and loot boxes, and arrive weeks after a leaked draft of the proposal circulated among publishers.
Switching off addictive design
Beyond games, the proposal takes aim at the design tricks that keep people glued to their screens. Article 17 would require companies to offer accessible controls letting users disable features likely to encourage compulsive or excessive use — individually or all at once. The draft names automatic content playback, notifications unrelated to a user's activity, and systems that reward frequent engagement or penalise users for failing to return regularly.
The proposal would also ban dark patterns outright: interface designs that trick users into unwanted purchases or into opting in to settings they did not intend to choose. And it tightens the rules on influencer marketing, barring influencers from promoting products whose advertising is banned under EU or national law — a recital in the text specifically names betting and lotteries as unsuitable for influencer promotion.
What happens next
The proposal now enters the EU's ordinary legislative procedure, where the Parliament and the Council will examine and negotiate every article. Industry reaction was swift: the European Lotteries association asked on the same day for gambling to be carved out of the rules, arguing the text has no gambling exclusion even though it leaves national authorisation regimes untouched.
For now, nothing changes for users or companies — the draft sets no final adoption date. But if the proposal survives negotiation largely intact, it would put the EU well ahead of other major markets in regulating how apps and games are designed to hold attention and extract spending, and it would force some of the world's biggest platforms and publishers to rebuild parts of their products for European users.
By Hamza Faisal
