Changes to online platforms and consumers' expectations of continuity

Summary

Platforms are constantly changing. Innovations and adaptations to new consumer expectations, regulatory changes, cost structures and business models are in tension with consumers' expectations of continuity and the potential loss of orientation among vulnerable consumers. EU law provides only very limited guidance on this issue but tends to be rather restrictive with regard to the control of general terms and conditions. There is therefore considerable scope for national legislation, including through non-mandatory law, which should be prepared on the one hand by an interdisciplinary study of consumer expectations (consumer behaviour research) and on the other hand by a broad comparative legal study of existing regulatory models for several countries (Roman legal systems, especially France and Italy, Scandinavia and the Baltic States, Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Czechia and Slovakia, as well as Common Law, especially in Ireland and the USA) on the other hand. To this end, the first core of the project will involve a broad comparative law analysis of platform user agreements in order to highlight the complex tension between contractual obligations and change that emerges from these agreements. The contractual organisation of contract amendments, including changes to the subject matter of contracts, has likewise been little studied in comparative law and forms the second – again legal – core of the investigation. Finally, behavioural science and legal research are the focus of investigation cores three and four, which deal with expectations of continuity and discontinuity in platforms. Actual and justified expectations of consumers are compared. The initial aim of the project is to gain knowledge through a dual interdisciplinary approach, which will form the basis for the development of legal policy proposals for consumer protection law.