Competition Authority fines Deghi Spa for misleading use of countdowns in online promotions
Deghi employed manipulative marketing techniques involving fictitious limited-time discounts, leading consumers to make purchasing decisions based on misleading information. Fine of two million
The Italian Competition and Market Authority has fined Deghi Spa €2 million for unfair commercial practices.
The Authority has established that, from January 2024 to the end of December 2025, the company, in many cases, used a ‘countdown timer’ (or ‘countdown’) to advertise time-limited discounts which, upon expiry, were renewed on the same financial terms with a new ‘counter’.
In doing so, Deghi misleadingly advertised the prices and discounts of many products sold ‘on special offer’ on the website https://www.deghi.it/.” . This was stated by the Competition Authority in a press release.
“This,” he concludes, “is a particularly insidious practice based on a manipulation technique (known as a ‘dark pattern’), which imposes a fictitious time limit on promotional offers to pressure consumers into making a purchase, thereby exploiting the so-called ‘scarcity heuristic’.”
