The European Commission has proposed a Digital Fairness Act aimed at online practices it says harm children and push consumers to spend more, including dark patterns and loot boxes, Engadget reported, citing a Commission news release¹.

Engadget said the draft would allow fines of up to 6 percent of a company's annual revenue for non-compliance¹.

The package, as described in that account, would ban dark patterns such as hard-to-cancel subscriptions, require clearer online pricing for cultural and sports events, and let consumers turn off design features the Commission calls addictive because they encourage excessive or compulsive spending¹.

It would also restrict practices that encourage overspending by minors, including pay-to-win mechanics such as loot boxes and persistent prompts, Engadget said¹.

EU justice chief Michael McGrath said in a statement quoted by Engadget, "We are not making it harder to do business, we are making it harder to do business unfairly"¹.

The proposal would require influencers to be transparent about commercial content and would address personalized ads and prices that target minors, according to Engadget¹.

The Commission separately proposed shifting some enforcement from member states toward a more centralized system, giving Brussels direct powers to investigate large-scale cases, speed coordination and act against non-EU companies, Engadget reported¹.

Engadget framed that shift as possibly reducing a patchwork of national enforcement and as possibly moving power away from Ireland, where several large U.S. tech companies are based; it cited a Politico report on U.N. experts' concerns about Ireland's privacy regulator¹.

Industry comments, the full legal text and a timeline for adoption were not in the Engadget report¹.