New Challenges and New Regulations

The first Quarter of 2024 is marked by the DSA and DMA coming into action, and the new AI based interfaces massively hitting the consumers market.

Regulators are ready, but so are the new interfaces.

February and March 2024 represent a major milestone for the DSA (Digital Services Act) and DMA (Digital Markets Act) in the EU, as they come into force. Companies are already formulating strategies and making adjustments to ensure compliance with the new regulations. In this edition, we will delve into the specific implications of the DMA and examine how certain businesses are navigating this transition. Will it serve as an opportunity to create a more equitable digital experience, or will we witness the emergence of new deceptive practices?

Both Meta and Google have announced the possibilities for users to unlink the services within their respective portfolio. In Meta’s case, this option is particularly tricky, especially after their decision to go for a “pay-for-your-rights” approach (dubbed “choose to lose” by noyb.eu ). Within this scheme, if a user has decided to pay the subscription to avoid its data to be sold, if they also decide that their accounts will be unlinked, then the social network bill will quickly raise making them pay for each account in each platform.

Google is also preparing to unlink its portfolio of services. It has already announced the availability of this option on your profile. However, finding the path to access it is still very difficult, and the potential consequences it may have on your services remain unclear.

However, it's not just the DMA that is ramping up. The EU has recently issued two calls of interest to hire new members for the enforcement team of the Digital Service Act (DSA). The roles they are looking to fill include legal officers, data scientists or technology specialists, policy and operations specialists, as well as 10 administrative, policy, or legal assistants.

With the establishment of this task force, the identification and avoidance of dark patterns will become even more relevant. Adding to this, by March, the global markets will be hit by the first wave of new dematerialized and AI-generated interfaces. Wearable pins, AR/VR visors, intelligent necklaces, and new handheld devices are already in the shipping phase, bringing with them new and diverse Large Models that raise questions about privacy and security. These new devices, with their ability to interact "naturally" with users, represent uncharted territory for most consumers. The majority of buyers are not yet trained in using AI capabilities.

At Fairpatterns, our R&D lab is already working to determine the best ways to identify dark patterns on these new interfaces and to develop training methods to avoid them.

Our latest news!

• Coffee #app and their payment #wallets are not only becoming a huge business, they also host #darkpatterns and may trick users into spending much more then they intended to!
• Fairpatterns is Growing: We announced it a week ago, but we can’t shake off our excitement. Harry Brignull is joining Fairpatterns on a mission to deepen our solution to detect and fix dark patterns and as a member of our advisory board.
• Our founder, Marie Potel-Saville, has just been selected to be part of the European Data Protection Board's Support Pool of Experts ("SPE") in the field of #darkpatterns! It was a thorough selection process, where she provided a synthesis of all her work for the past 6 years fighting dark patterns.

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