13/03/2026
With World Consumer Rights Day approaching on 15 March, The Good Lobby has joined more than 200 civil society organisations and academics in calling on the European Commission to adopt an ambitious Digital Fairness Act (DFA) that meaningfully protects people online.
Digital technologies are now deeply embedded in everyday life. Yet the online environment has also enabled the spread of harmful commercial practices that undermine consumer autonomy, exploit behavioural vulnerabilities, and can cause financial, mental, and even physical harm. According to the European Commission’s own assessment, unfair commercial practices alone cost consumers at least €7.9 billion every year.
While recent EU legislation – including the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the AI Act – has strengthened protections in important ways, significant gaps remain. Existing horizontal EU consumer law, such as the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, was adopted more than two decades ago and was not designed to address many of today’s digital business models and practices.
The joint letter urges the Commission to seize the opportunity presented by the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act to update EU consumer law for the digital age. This includes clearer and stronger rules to tackle issues such as dark patterns, addictive design, unfair personalisation, influencer marketing, and manipulative practices in digital services and online games.
Importantly, the initiative also highlights that simplification should not become a synonym for deregulation. Updating consumer law can simultaneously increase legal certainty for businesses, strengthen fair competition, and ensure that digital markets respect fundamental rights and support more sustainable economic models.
At The Good Lobby, we believe that strong rules are essential to ensure that digital markets work for people, not just platforms. The Digital Fairness Act represents a crucial opportunity to protect consumers – especially vulnerable groups such as children, older persons and people with disabilities – while reinforcing trust in Europe’s digital economy.
Together with a broad coalition of civil society organisations, consumer groups, digital rights advocates and academics, we stand ready to support the European Commission in developing a Digital Fairness Act that truly delivers for people online.