The European Commission drafted a "Digital Fairness Act" to strengthen consumer rights in a digital world. If adopted, it will have a massive impact on games, in particular when using virtual currency. The "Digital Fairness Act" will be an EU Regulation, which means that it will directly apply in all EU member states. It will also partly override existing national laws on unfair commercial practises, and it is meant to complement the EU KIDS Act (which also still is in the law-making progress).
The draft looks as follows:
• Dark patterns in online interfaces (Art. 10) will be prohibited. What constitutes a "dark pattern" will be defined by a new blacklist, which is not yet known.
• Personalised advertising (Art. 12) targeting minors based on profiling will be is prohibited – that's already prohibited under other laws, however.
• Personalised pricing (Art. 13) based on profiling will be prohibited in relation to minors and vulnerable consumers.
• Paid-for virtual currencies (Art. 14): Virtual items or other products that can be acquired using paid-for virtual currencies must display their corresponding monetary value in real currency. For minors, paid-for virtual currencies shall be disabled by de-fault; parent or guardian approval shall be required for activation.
• Paid-for variable reward systems (i.e. loot boxes) (Art. 15): Paid-for variable reward systems must not be offered to minors. Where they are made available to consumers who are not minors, traders must ensure transparency (mandatory information: probabilities of obtaining items, types of products or virtual items available) and make available to consumers effective tools enabling them to disable these systems.
• Pay-to-progress and pay-to-win mechanisms (Art. 16) will be prohibited for minors. This covers in-game or in-app purchases that are necessary, or are presented as necessary, for in-game or in-app progress or success. The interpretation of these legal terms remains not overly clear — and even less the legal consequence (i.e. whether, for example, adult consumers may still purchase items that confer competitive advantages, thereby gaining an advantage over minors).
• Features intended or which can reasonably be foreseen to encourage compulsive or excessive use (Art. 17) must be disableable by consumers. These include, among others: features enabling automatic play of content and uninterrupted content consumption (e.g. doom-scrolling); notifications not triggered by or not directly related to the consumer's interaction or activity on the service; features incentivising engagement at regular times or with greater frequency (e.g. login rewards, engagement streaks); and features and system behaviours that encourage continued use by simulating interpersonal relations. The Commission may amend the list of such features by means of delegated acts.
• Contracts with free trial periods (Art. 20–22) will be regulated: continuation of the contract requires the consumer's express agreement; new information obligations apply regarding the end of the free trial period and the conditions for termination and renewal.
• Online contract termination function and withdrawal function (Art. 23, 24) will become mandatory.
• Customer service (Art. 25): upon the consumer's request, traders must make communication with a human being available.
• Fines of up to 6% of the trader's worldwide annual turnover.
