欧盟委员会周三公布了一系列消费者法律的全面修订方案，旨在保护欧盟公民免受“有害数字行为”的侵害——无论是在网上购物、浏览社交媒体，还是在上多邻国课程时。
The European Commission announced a sweeping set of updates to consumer law on Wednesday to protect European Union citizens from “harmful digital practices”—whether while online shopping, browsing social media, or doing their Duolingo lesson.
在这套方案中，欧盟委员会公布了《数字公平法案》，以应对网络上的有害行为。拟议规则包括禁止“暗黑模式”——即操纵消费者做出他们原本不会做出的决定的做法，例如谎称某产品即将售罄。规则还将限制票务零售商（如Ticketmaster）的动态定价；强制网红披露其推广产品是否收取报酬；禁止针对未成年人的个性化广告和定价，或利用敏感数据这样做；让数字订阅更容易取消；并赋予消费者与人工客服互动的权利。
Within the package, the Commission unveiled its Digital Fairness Act to address harmful practices online. Proposed rules include banning dark patterns—practices which manipulate consumers into making decisions they would not otherwise make, such as falsely claiming a product is running low. They will also curb dynamic pricing by ticket retailers, like Ticketmaster; force influencers to disclose when they are being paid to promote a product; outrule personalized advertising and pricing targeting minors or taking advantage of sensitive data; make digital subscriptions easier to cancel; and give consumers a right to interact with human customer service.
欧盟委员会负责消费者保护的委员迈克尔·麦格拉思表示，这套方案“是20多年来欧盟消费者保护规则最重大的改革”，并指出现行消费者规则是在电子商务、注意力经济以及利用个人数据开展营销兴起之前制定的。“《数字公平法案》将确保数字经济为消费者服务，而不是与消费者作对，”他在新闻发布会上说。
The package “represents the most significant reform of EU consumer protection rules in more than 20 years” according to Michael McGrath, the EC Consumer Protection Commissioner, noting that existing consumer rules were developed before ecommerce, the attention economy, and use of personal data for marketing took off. “The digital fairness act will make sure the digital economy works for consumers and not against them,” he said at a press conference.
该法案还将使所有消费者能够关闭数字服务中令人上瘾的设计功能，例如视频自动播放和连续打卡——包括在Strava和多邻国等应用上。
The bill will also enable all consumers to turn off addictive design features on digital services, such as autoplay of videos and streaks—including on apps like Strava and Duolingo.
其中一些设计模式欧盟已通过《儿童法案》对儿童加以限制。该法案除了禁止13岁以下儿童使用社交媒体和聊天机器人外，还针对这些服务中的成瘾性设计。一些欧洲人权组织呼吁将这些保护措施扩展到所有消费者。欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩在9月的盟情咨文中预告《数字公平法案》时表示：“但面临风险的不仅仅是未成年人。例如，成瘾性设计正在伤害所有人。这就是为什么我们需要一个更广泛的框架。”
Some of these patterns the EU has already restricted for children through its Kids Act, which in addition to banning under-13s from accessing social media and chatbots, targets addictive designs in those services. Some European rights groups have called for those protections to be extended to all consumers and, teasing the Digital Fairness Act in September’s State of the Union address, President Ursula von der Leyen said: “But it is not only minors who are at risk. Addictive design, for example, is harming everyone. That is why we need a wider framework.”
部分风险也已受到欧盟《数字服务法案》的监管。周五，欧盟委员会表示，字节跳动旗下的TikTok违反了这些规定，其“为你推荐”信息流算法产生“兔子洞效应”，该算法对推荐给用户的内容进行个性化。科技监管机构此前已认定，TikTok的“成瘾性设计”违反了规定，除算法外，还包括无限滚动、自动播放和推送通知等功能。
Some of the risks are also already regulated by the EU Digital Services Act. On Friday, the European Commission said ByteDance’s TikTok had breached those rules with the “rabbit hole effect” of its “For You” feed algorithm which personalizes content recommended to users. The tech regulator had previously found TikTok’s “addictive design” broke the rules by including features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and push notifications, in addition to the algorithm.
7月，该机构认定Meta因Instagram和Facebook上的类似功能而违反了该法案。如果得到确认，这两家公司现在可能面临最高相当于全球年营业额6%的罚款。
In July, it found Meta to be in breach of the act due to similar features on Instagram and Facebook. If confirmed, both companies may now face fines of up to 6 percent of worldwide annual turnover.
执行副主席亨娜·维尔库宁表示，新法规旨在填补该法案、《数字市场法案》以及8月《人工智能法案》之间的空白，而非“重复这些法规”。她补充说，这一揽子方案应简化欧盟27个成员国的消费者保护规则，并成为“数字世界中的强大安全网”。
The new regulation is designed to fill the gaps between this, the Digital Markets Act, and August’s AI Act, says executive vice president Henna Virkkunen, “not duplicate this.”The package should simplify consumer protection rules across the bloc’s 27 members and be a “strong safety net in the digital world,” she adds.
欧盟委员会旨在通过强化执法规则来加快跨境合作。这些规则还将赋予监管机构直接权力，以调查大规模影响，并对企业处以最高相当于其全球年营业额6%的罚款。非欧盟公司将被要求任命一名当地法律代表与当局合作。
The Commission aims to accelerate cross-border cooperation through strengthened enforcement rules. These would also give the regulator direct powers to investigate large-scale impact and fine firms up to 6 percent of their worldwide annual turnover. Non-EU companies would be required to appoint a local legal representative to cooperate with authorities.