EU Digital Fairness Act stalls on scope as Commission splits

The EU’s next big consumer-protection law is running into disagreement before it is even drafted. The Digital Fairness Act, a European Commission initiative planned for the fourth quarter of 2026, would target dark patterns, fake and misleading reviews, addictive design and unfair personalisation, but senior Commission figures are reported to be split over how far it should reach. For multi-location brands, it signals new EU-wide rules on the digital practices they run across every market.

What happened

The Commission describes the Digital Fairness Act as tackling “dark patterns, marketing by social media influencers, the addictive design of digital products and unfair personalisation practices, especially where consumer vulnerabilities are exploited.” It was announced on 20 June 2026 as a Q4 2026 legislative initiative, following a public consultation that ran until 24 October 2025 and a fitness check that found existing consumer-protection directives only partially effective online.

According to EU Today, senior Commission figures are divided over how far the Act should extend consumer-protection powers and whether it should add new fines and obligations, with Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath arguing for stronger direct enforcement, set against concern that Brussels risks duplicating rules that are not yet fully enforced.

Why it matters

Two of the Act’s targets sit at the centre of how brands present themselves online: reviews and consumer-facing design. Rules against fake or incentivised reviews, hard-to-cancel subscriptions and manipulative interfaces would apply across the digital economy, and the Commission’s own 2022 study found the vast majority of popular sites and apps used at least one dark pattern. A horizontal EU law would set one bar for every market a brand operates in.

What this means for multi-location brands

For a central team, this is a governance question, not a legal footnote. Review practices, consent flows, cancellation journeys and personalisation are often run per market or per agency, which is exactly where inconsistency and risk accumulate at scale. Getting ahead means auditing how reviews are collected and responded to everywhere, and keeping the practice clean and uniform across the estate. Manage that centrally through reputation management software and consistent review management, and keep the location and consent data behind it accurate through governed local business listings. Brands that already run tight review governance will have less to change than those that left it to local teams.

The Digital Fairness Act tackles “dark patterns, marketing by social media influencers, the addictive design of digital products and unfair personalisation practices, especially where consumer vulnerabilities are exploited.”

European Commission

The bottom line

The Act is not law yet, and the Commission’s own split means the final scope is unsettled. But the direction is clear: fake reviews and manipulative design are heading for EU-wide rules with real enforcement. Brands that treat review and consent governance as a central function now will be ready when the proposal lands.