Commissioner Jourová met with tech companies to push for full compliance with EU consumer rules

Commissioner Jourová and national consumer authorities met with Airbnb and Facebook to take stock of the progress made on two ongoing consumer enforcement actions. Following the call from the European Commission and EU consumer authorities in July, Airbnb has now committed to making the necessary changes to their terms and conditions and improving the presentation of their prices.

The company has until the end of 2018 to make these changes on all EU language versions of their website. Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said: “The online players have revolutionised the way we travel, find accommodation and experience our holidays. But they also need to fully comply with the rules and take responsibility when things go bad. But EU consumers enjoy rights both off-line and online. I welcome Airbnb’s willingness to do the necessary changes to ensure full transparency and understanding of what consumers pay for. This action is part of a larger push for stronger protection of consumers online. That’s why we proposed reinforced consumer rules under the ‘New Deal for Consumers’ a few months ago.” Regarding Facebook, there was very limited progress in the framework of the ongoing enforcement action. Facebook’s new terms of services from April contain a misleading presentation of the main characteristics of Facebook’s services.  In particular, Facebook now tells consumers that their data and content is used only to improve their overall “experience” and does not mention that the company uses these data for commercial purposes. Commissioner Jourová said: “My patience has reached its limit. While Facebook assured me to finally adapt any remaining misleading terms of services by December, this has been ongoing for too long. It is now time for action and no more promises. If the changes are not fully implemented by the end of the year, I call on consumer authorities to act swiftly and sanction the company.” A full press release on the Airbnb action is available online. Commissioner Jourová gave a press point on these topics this morning, which can be watched here.