On 17 November 2025, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened its first investigations using its enhanced consumer enforcement powers set out in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA), marking a significant step in strengthening consumer protection in digital markets.

Under the DMCCA, the CMA now has enhanced powers to:

• Determine breaches without court involvement.
• Impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover.
• Order compensation for affected consumers.

Eight companies, including, among others, StubHub, Viagogo and Gold’s Gym are subject to the CMA investigation, for having in place practices that may undermine price transparency. These include drip pricing, pressure selling, and automatic opt-ins for additional services. 

In addition to this, the CMA is contacting 100 other businesses across sectors such as travel, homeware, fitness, and entertainment to warn them about practices like drip pricing, pressure selling, and misleading countdown clocks.

With this investigation Sarah Cardell (Chief Executive of the CMA) emphasized the importance of trust in online transactions, sending a strong message to the digital market: 

“This is just the start of our work. Any businesses who break consumer law should be in no doubt we will stamp out illegal conduct and protect the interests of consumers and fair-dealing businesses.” 

In related news, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently upheld complaints against the Hilton hotel group, Travelodge, Booking.com and Accor over their use of eye-catching so-called "from" prices, with this ruling forming part of a wider piece of work by the ASA on the availability of advertised hotel prices. The ruling is based on the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code’s requirement that price claims such as “up to” and “from” must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the availability of the advertised product. CAP guidance also stated that the availability of a product at the “from” price should be spread evenly across the advertised travel period, and that marketers should make clear the specific period to which an offer related. 

Key points for businesses: 

• The enhanced powers granted to the CMA under the DMCCA (e.g. being able to handout significant fines linked to global turnover and further compensation orders without a court order) may enable it to act much more quickly and effectively to target, investigate and penalise unfair consumer practices. Issues around price transparency are a current CMA enforcement focus. Businesses should audit their pricing, marketing and promotional strategies urgently so as to avoid heavy fines and damage to brand reputation among consumers.
• The ASA ruling highlights that price transparency and evidence-based advertising are non-negotiable. Hospitality and travel brands should audit their marketing practices, ensure compliance with ASA guidelines, and implement controls to prevent misleading claims, especially in dynamic pricing contexts. 

For more information on the DMCCA, click the link below.