A complaint has been filed against a platform touted as the “world’s largest secondary ticket marketplace for live events” for “violating digital consumer rights”. This complaint, lodged with the Portuguese National Communications Authority (Anacom) and the Irish Digital Services Authority, is in collaboration with the European organization Euroconsumers.
Additionally, citing the platform’s impact on “over four million users daily across Europe,” DECO has urged the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) to “halt speculative practices and other unfair practices that harm consumers,” demanding “exemplary sanctions.”
Rosário Tereso, DECO’s Head of Execution and International Relations, explained to Lusa that “the platform uses what are typically known as dark patterns, which are techniques aimed at manipulating and pressuring consumers into decisions, often deliberately guiding them towards certain options, hindering informed decision-making.”
According to Tereso, these issues arise through the use of “tactics that convey a false scarcity of tickets,” such as pop-ups with countdowns that pressure consumers to complete their purchase.
“There is also the misleading display of prices, such as labeling more expensive tickets as cheaper, and even pre-selecting a number of tickets, which can lead to inadvertently purchasing more tickets than intended,” Tereso elaborated.
To DECO, these are “clear manipulation techniques that harm consumers and often rush them into purchases they later realize are not in their interest.”
This issue had previously been reported to authorities by DECO, “due to receiving hundreds of complaints,” notably when consumers later discovered they had purchased highly inflated tickets, Tereso noted.
“The new aspect is that, as of February 2024, the Digital Services Regulation is fully applicable, and we conducted an analysis to check whether the platform complies with these obligations, revealing widespread non-compliance,” clarified Tereso.
According to the association, corrective measures the platform should implement include the “redesign of user interface architecture, eliminating manipulative practices,” a rigorous process ensuring mandatory seller information is presented, and robust mechanisms for protecting minors.
The association believes that “since the platform facilitates the resale of tickets at speculative prices, this reason alone, considering the risk of severe harm to consumers, would have justified long ago restricting access to the online platform, potentially even a temporary closure, until it guarantees compliance with legislation, which has not yet happened,” emphasized Tereso.
Tereso also warned about the lack of a sanctioning regime in Portugal applicable to violations of digital rights, as the proposed law has not yet been approved.
“It is fortunate this situation involves a platform whose legal representative is established in Ireland because currently, if the representative were established in Portugal, the digital services coordinator might be powerless,” commented Tereso.
