ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the risks and issues relating to information, information that refers both to the relevant platforms as services and the information that comprises those services’ output, such as the shopping agents’ search results or their ‘fuel’, namely the purchase-related factors that software on automated marketplaces utilizes to conclude contracts. Instructions and guidance regarding platform use and features, including features enhancing security and privacy, are necessary to reduce the risk of consumer omissions or mistakes possibly leading to software agent failures – namely, contracts with unreliable merchants, mistaken or unintended contracts and privacy violations. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive constitutes a significant addition to the consumer acquis relating to the information provided to consumers. The relevant platforms comprise peculiar services in the sense that apart from being services themselves, they are intended to assist consumers in purchasing other services or goods.
