The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030 has announced a new regulation that will force companies to make transparent parameters that use their algorithms to customize prices and advertising. The main objective of the measure, has expressed minister Pablo Bustites, is that the operation of these automatic systems is understandable for users, as well as prevent them from using unfair variables in their decision processes.
As the minister explained in an act on the occasion of World Consumer Day, this regulation seeks that consumers can know based on what criteria certain prices or personalized advertising are offered. An example provided by the ministry refers to transport services such as Uber or Bolt, which can raise their prices if they detect that the trip is being hired from a high -end terminal or from one with little remaining battery at that time, which reduces the capacity of its owner to find other options.
In these cases, companies must clearly inform the user if the price has been set for distance, the time of the trip, the frequency of use or the concurrence of mass events. “Companies may not vary prices that are automatically personally personally, with the aim of preventing consuming people from feeling the pressure of making decisions hurried by the uncertainty of variations,” Bustonduy emphasized.
In addition to transparency in the information used by algorithms, the new regulation will also prohibit any of these parameters from being discriminatory. For example, the price of a service will not be allowed to be based on the disability or racial profile of the user, nor taking advantage of the user has little battery on the mobile.
These measures give continuity to the work carried out by the Ministry during the DANA last October, when pricing customization was prohibited from deriving in increases during demand peaks in situations of urgency, risk or need. “No business model can support the violation of rights,” said the minister during the act, focused on consumer rights in the digital field and has had the participation of representatives of the CNMC, Adigital and the Council of Consumers and Users (CCU).
During the act, the president of the CCU has presented a manifesto prepared by its organization that abounds in the need to adapt the protection of the rights of consumers and users to the digital environment, given the growing power of the great technological platforms and asymmetry in the relationship with citizenship. “The decisions of users and consumers, in the digital environment, have a real and significant impact on our analog reality in the field of consumption, in the quality of our democracies and in the sustainability of the planet,” Caballero recalled.
Therefore, he has requested the prohibition of deceptive commercial practices, the requirement of “justice for design” in digital services and the creation of a record of artificial intelligence systems. In addition, it has underlined the importance of providing authorities and civil organizations with sufficient resources to ensure effective supervision.
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