Tag

consumer protection

Hands with a calculator checking a pile of receipts and bills on a desk

E-commerce

EU regulators chase hidden fees case by case. The UK put all-in prices into law

Poland's consumer watchdog charged a holiday park on 28 October over fees added late in booking. EU law still does not name such fees.

15:258 sourcesUOKiK: charges against Holiday Park & Resort, UOKiK: charges against Legimi, UOKiK: Travelplanet.pl fine, CMA: price transparency guidance CMA209, CMA: AA and BSM driving schools, FTC: fees rule takes effect, European Commission: EU check on online sales practices, EPRS: Towards a digital fairness act

A paper checklist with a single red tick, like a product test that was never fully done

SEO & AI search

EU regulators fine fake test sites. Anthropic now names them in Claude’s rules

Obsidian Media pays DKK 400,000 in Denmark for product tests it never ran. From 12 November, Claude's rules also ban sites built to steer AI answers.

17 Oct 202612 sourcesForbrugerombudsmanden, Anthropic Usage Policy, Anthropic threat intelligence report, AGCM, Google Search Central, OpenAI, Google, EUR-Lex, ACM, konsument.gov.pl, Search Engine Roundtable, Silicon UK

Tablet showing five yellow rating stars on a blue screen

Performance

Danish regulator fines Obsidian Media DKK 400,000 for fake product tests

The Danish Consumer Ombudsman fined Obsidian Media DKK 400,000. Its five review sites looked like independent tests but earned affiliate commissions and never tested the products.

16 Oct 20263 sourcesForbrugerombudsmanden (source document), Recordere.dk, Markedsforing.dk

Plain cardboard boxes stacked on a table, with no printed marketing claims on them.

PR and Communications

EU bans generic green claims in ads from 27 September

From 27 September, generic green claims are banned in advertising across the European Union under Directive (EU) 2024/825.

11 Sep 20263 sourcesCosLaw, Obelis, ClimatePartner