EU Digital Fairness Act Would Force AI Chatbots and Platforms to Let Users Switch Off Addictive Design, With Fines Up to 6% of Global Revenue

The European Commission on Wednesday introduced the Digital Fairness Act, its broadest consumer-protection push yet against the design techniques that keep people scrolling, spending and chatting online. The proposal reaches beyond social media: e-commerce platforms, subscription services and AI chatbots are all in scope, and the Commission explicitly flagged AI systems that simulate personal relationships as a target of the new rules.

The core obligation is an opt-out: services will have to give users accessible tools to disable features that encourage compulsive or excessive use — automatic content playback, notifications unrelated to the user's own activity, streak-style engagement rewards, and automated systems that simulate personal relationships to extend interaction. Consumer protection commissioner Michael McGrath drew a bright line on commerce: falsely claiming a product is scarce is a dark pattern, and it must be banned.

The proposal goes further than a general principle. It would enumerate a list of ten manipulative interface practices — the so-called dark patterns, from fake scarcity warnings to deliberately obstructed cancellation flows — and deem them unfair in all circumstances, removing the need for regulators to prove harm case by case. Subscription contracts get their own rules: an easily accessible "terminate the contract here" function, advance reminders before free trials convert into paid plans, and warnings ahead of automatic renewals.

Minors get a separate layer of protection. The proposal would prohibit profiling-based advertising aimed at users known to be under 18, ban personalized pricing likely to harm them, and outlaw paid loot boxes and pay-to-win mechanics in games. Paid virtual currencies would be disabled by default for minors, with parental approval required to switch them on.

The enforcement teeth are sharper than most EU consumer rules. Fines can reach 6 percent of global annual turnover, and the Commission would gain direct enforcement power when a violation affects at least two-thirds of the EU population, instead of leaving cases to national regulators. Small businesses fall outside direct enforcement. The Commission's impact assessment estimates the rules would spare consumers 88.4 billion euros in losses between 2025 and 2035 — around 13.7 billion euros a year once avoided time losses are counted — against roughly 678 million euros a year in ongoing compliance costs for businesses.

The Act is far from law: it now enters negotiations with the European Parliament and member states, and would apply twelve months after entry into force. Germany has already pushed back, arguing existing consumer law should be amended rather than adding a new cross-sector regulation, and MEPs at a Monday workshop criticized the opt-out approach as risking a second cookie-banner fiasco. For the AI industry, the most consequential line may be the one about simulated relationships: companion chatbots that thrive on engagement are now explicitly named in EU lawmaking, and their designers will have to build an off switch that actually works.