The twenty largest online sales sites have been singled out by UFC-Que-Choisir for “manipulative processes”, strategies which prevent consumers from making rational decisions. The association calls for sanctions against these platforms.
False sense of urgency, misleading crossed-out prices… Some online commerce sites use “dark patterns”, or manipulative interfaces, to influence their customers, which European legislation prohibits, denounces UFC-Que Choisir this Thursday, June 20, calling for more sanctions in France and Europe.
Not one of the 20 online marketplaces most used by the French is free from “dark patterns”, or “manipulative processes” influencing the actions of their users. This is the observation of the consumer defense association UFC-Que Choisir, which wanted to know whether the European regulation on digital services (DSA), which explicitly prohibits these “dark patterns” and has applied in France since February 2024, was respected.
But none of the sites of Airbnb, Aliexpress, Amazon, Booking.com, Carrefour, Cdiscount, Decathlon, E.Leclerc, eBay, eDreams, Expedia, Fnac, Leboncoin, Leroy Merlin, ManoMano, Rakuten France, Shein, Temu, Veepee, Vinted , i.e. the 20 marketplaces most visited by the French according to the Professional E-commerce Federation (Fevad), are exempt.
Crossed out prices, incentives and limited stock
“The most common deceptive interfaces include manipulative visual designs, the requirement to create a customer account, misleading strike-through prices, repetitive incentives, or limited stock messages (urgency trap) whose relevance is entirely irrelevant. unverifiable”, observes UFC-Que Choisir.
Temu “comes in first with the greatest number of ‘dark patterns’ present on its site and in its application”, explains UFC-Que Choisir, which is one of around twenty associations having filed a complaint against the Chinese platform of online commerce, accused of violating several provisions of the DSA.
“Temu is followed in our ranking by Aliexpress, another Chinese platform, then the American platform Amazon and the French Veepee”, further indicates the association which wants consumers “to be able to make unbiased choices”.
She therefore claims to alert the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) and the European Commission on “the excesses of professionals”, calling for “initiating additional investigations and sanctioning these unacceptable practices”. The association specifies that it “will not fail to take legal action in the event of the persistence of such practices”.
