BEUC – together with 25 members from 21 countries – filed a complaint today with the European Commission and European consumer protection authorities against SHEIN for its use of deceptive techniques (‘dark patterns’). These push consumers into purchasing more than originally intended and fuel the environmental and societal problems caused by the fast fashion industry.
Dark Patterns is a broad term, but it’s also the worst aspect of commercialising “free” software/web services etc.
I hope the term is already part of whatever regulations the EU has there, and I hope this and similar complaints succeed.
I’m hopeful too. We need things like this to start moving in the opposite direction.
The internet and surveillance capitalism have allowed for hyper optimized psychological manipulation. It’s long past time for regulations to catch up.