European Commission notifies SHEIN of consumer protection concerns related to use of ‘dark patterns’

On 26 May 2025, the European Commission and the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC Network) directed the online marketplace and e-retailer SHEIN to bring certain practices on its platform in line with EU consumer laws. The CPC Network has also requested information from SHEIN to assess its compliance with its obligation to ensure that product rankings, reviews and ratings are not presented to consumers in a misleading way on its e-platform.

The ongoing investigation against SHEIN is in line with current trends towards enhanced enforcement of consumer laws related to so-called ‘dark patterns’ in online choice architecture (see our Horizon Scanning piece on this topic and our client briefing on recent UK reforms in this space).

Background and key concerns

The CPC Network is a network of national authorities responsible for enforcing EU consumer protection laws in EU and EEA countries. The Commission facilitates, and may under certain circumstances also coordinate, joint investigation and enforcement action by the CPC Network authorities where infringements have an EU-wide dimension. The CPC Network’s ongoing investigation against SHEIN is led by the competent national authorities of Belgium, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, under the coordination of the Commission.

The CPC Network found that various practices on SHEIN’s platform infringe EU consumer laws, namely the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, the Price Indication Directive and the e-Commerce Directive. This includes the following practices:

• fake discounts: pretending to offer better deals by showing price reductions that are not based on the actual ‘prior prices’; 
• pressure selling: putting consumers under pressure to complete purchases using tactics like false purchase deadlines online; 
• missing, incorrect and misleading information: displaying incomplete and incorrect information about consumers’ legal rights to return goods and receive refunds and failing to process returns and refunds in accordance with consumers’ relevant rights; and
• deceptive labels and misleading sustainability claims: using product labels that suggest that the product offers something special when in fact the relevant feature is required by law, and providing false or deceptive information about the sustainability benefits of products.

The CPC Network’s fact-finding regarding product rankings, reviews and ratings on SHEIN’s e-platform is still ongoing.  

Next steps

A week after the Commission’s announcement, the European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, announced that it had filed an EU-wide complaint with the Commission and the CPC Network authorities regarding SHEIN’s alleged use of deceptive techniques on its online platform to “fuel overconsumption”, and called for an industry-wide investigation into fast fashion companies’ compliance with EU consumer laws related to dark patterns. In particular, BEUC’s complaint appears to be directed at the alleged use of techniques such as ‘confirm-shaming’, the use of infinite scroll and ‘nagging’ of consumers online, which BEUC considers to be unfair commercial practices for the purposes of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

SHEIN has one month to reply to the CPC Network’s findings and suggest possible commitments to address the CPC Network’s concerns. If SHEIN fails to address these concerns, national authorities can take enforcement measures to ensure compliance, such as imposing fines based on SHEIN’s annual turnover in the relevant EU Member States. 

The Commission has stated that this latest enforcement action is complementary to its ongoing Digital Services Act inquiry against SHEIN, following the e-retailer’s designation as a Very Large Online Platform in April 2024.