Italy Fines eDreams €9 Million for Manipulative Prime Subscription Tactics

Key Takeaways

• Design Choices Were Central to the Case: The Authority focused heavily on how interface design and user flows nudged consumers toward paid subscriptions.
• Subscription Benefits Were Not Clearly Explained: Ambiguous claims and opaque pricing structures undermined informed decision-making.
• Paid Options Were Preselected: Defaulting users into the most expensive plan was seen as limiting genuine consumer choice.
• Free Trials Were Not Always Free: Some users were charged immediately despite being steered toward trial offers they did not qualify for.
• Cancelling Was Intentionally Difficult: Retention tactics that blocked or delayed withdrawals resulted in additional penalties.

Deep Dive

Italy’s competition watchdog has handed eDreams a €9 million fine after concluding that the online travel platform used manipulative design tactics to push customers into paid subscriptions and then made it unnecessarily hard for them to get out.

In a recent decision, the Italian Competition Authority said Vacaciones eDreams and eDreams International Network relied on so-called “dark patterns” across their website and app when selling flights and accommodation. These techniques, the Authority found, distorted consumer choice and crossed the line into unfair commercial practice.

According to the Authority, eDreams’ digital interfaces were carefully engineered to steer users toward its Prime subscription, sometimes without consumers fully realizing what they were signing up for.

The investigation found that claims about Prime’s benefits were often vague or ambiguous, while time pressure and artificial scarcity were used to rush booking decisions. Users were also presented with discount claims that the Authority said were misleading, alongside a lack of transparency over how prices varied depending on whether customers arrived via metasearch engines, accessed the site directly, or already held a Prime subscription.

Design choices played a central role. The most expensive option, Prime Plus, was preselected by default, and consumers who were not eligible for a free trial were still funneled toward it, only then to be charged the annual fee immediately, without clear advance warning.

The Authority classified these practices as both misleading and aggressive, breaching multiple provisions of the Italian Consumer Code. That first set of violations resulted in a €6 million fine.

Getting In Was Easy. Getting Out Wasn’t.

The remaining €3 million penalty stems from what the Authority described as systematic obstacles placed in the way of consumers trying to cancel. Investigators found that eDreams restricted users’ ability to exercise their right of withdrawal, both during trial periods and throughout the life of the Prime subscription. Retention strategies, including those embedded in customer service interactions, were used to discourage or delay cancellations.

That conduct was deemed an aggressive commercial practice in its own right, triggering a second enforcement action and pushing the total fine to €9 million.

The decision adds to growing regulatory pressure across Europe on the use of dark patterns in digital services, particularly where subscription models and “free trials” are involved.

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