The paper also outlines the evidence on prevalence of OCA practices as well as selected cross-cutting issues related to OCA, for example vulnerability of consumers.
This paper is intended to be used as a reference document. Competition and consumer authorities necessarily need to identify and address detriment, so this paper focuses on the harms that can arise from OCA practices. OCA is often used positively to help consumers, for example, by displaying relevant products prominently and to streamline friction. Online choice architecture (OCA) describes the environment in which users act and make decisions, including the presentation and placement of choices and the design of interfaces. This is a companion paper, which provides underpinning evidence to support the CMA publication, Online Choice Architecture: how digital design can harm competition and consumers (referred to as “the discussion paper”).