Pay to Play: Social Media Meets the Subscription Economy

The rise of sub­scrip­tion-based busi­ness mod­els in social media is part of a broad­er trend that can be observed in many indus­tries. Against this back­ground, it is nec­es­sary to adapt Euro­pean con­sumer law to the new risks of the sub­scrip­tion economy.However, it is not enough to give con­sumers rights on paper. Nor is it suf­fi­cient to inform con­sumers about their rights in the small print. Effec­tive con­sumer pro­tec­tion in dig­i­tal mar­kets requires a user inter­face design that enables con­sumers to exer­cise their rights with a sim­ple click.