A Long Overdue Reckoning
For years, the unspoken rule of digital services has been simple. Make signing up a one-click affair, but make leaving feel like trying to escape a high-security prison. The American Federal Trade Commission called these tactics "dark patterns", which is a polite way of saying they deliberately tricked people. Now, with a cool £1.2 billion being refunded to customers, the message from the top is crystal clear. The party is over.
I think this changes the game entirely. Every company, from your favourite streaming service to that software you forgot you even had, is now looking over its shoulder. The days of relying on customer inertia and confusing cancellation processes to prop up subscriber numbers are numbered. Transparency is no longer a nice-to-have marketing buzzword, it’s a mandatory, and potentially very expensive, part of doing business. This regulatory shift, in my view, could create a fascinating landscape for savvy investors.