Rules if you promote the use of your online service
You are allowed to stimulate the use of your online service or that consumers use it more actively. However, you cannot mislead or unduly influence consumers into using the service more than they would otherwise. That is an unfair commercial practice. Unfair commercial practices are prohibited. That is why there are boundaries to the way in which you can design your service for boosting the use thereof.
Consumers do not need to pay with money for using many online services. Businesses that provide such services usually earn money from (personalized) ads. They often stimulate consumers to use the service as much as possible or to prevent them from switching to another service. For if consumers spend more time on the service (time spent) and are more active on it (engagement), that service becomes more attractive to advertisers. Businesses will then be able to charge more for the advertising space. Furthermore, that is how they collect more data about their users and their behavior. And that knowledge, too, is worth money.
Stimulating online use is allowed, but only to a certain extent. You must comply with the rules laid down in consumer protection law.
With the upcoming Digital Services Act, new rules will also be introduced, particularly for online platforms. Most of these rules will come into force as of 17 February 2024. For online platforms, a ban on ‘dark patterns’ will come into effect. These are techniques that disrupt or restrict the ability of consumers to make free and well-informed decisions. This ban will apply to practices that do not fall under the rules regarding unfair commercial practices or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
What is required and what is not allowed?
Tips
Examples
Relevant regulations
- Title 3, section 3A of the Dutch Civil Code, Book 6 (Unfair commercial practices) (in Dutch)
- Directive 2005/29/EC (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive)
Explanation of regulations
More info: links and footnotes
- European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, Lupiáñez-Villanueva, F., Boluda, A., Bogliacino, F., et al., Behavioural study on unfair commercial practices in the digital environment : dark patterns and manipulative personalisation : final report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.