Can the EU make it harder to trick consumers online?

The EU wants to curb subscription traps, misleading sales tactics and features that keep people scrolling. What would the proposed Digital Fairness Act change, and does it go far enough? You sign up for a free trial to watch a series after work. A month later, you've forgotten about it. Then you find a charge for your new 12-month subscription on your bank statement.

Sound familiar? You're not alone. Now the EU wants to stop that practice. Under the European Commission's proposed Digital Fairness Act (DFA), a company would have to remind you before the free trial ends and get your explicit agreement before it can start charging you. The proposed law would also make it easier to cancel a subscription online and require reminders before certain contracts renew automatically.

The Commission presented the proposal on Wednesday. It wants to give consumers more control over how much time and money they spend online . "We haven't seen that kind of reform in consumer protection in the last 20 years," Agustin Reyna, director general of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), told DW.