The White House has just announced a new initiative designed to “crack down on everyday headaches and hassles that waste Americans’ time and money.”  Citing ongoing and upcoming efforts by a number of federal agencies to help consumers save both, the announcement is not shy about decrying “the corporate tricks and scams like excessive paperwork, long wait times, and more that pad the profits of big business.”  

Examples of the “tricks and scams” cited in the announcement include long wait times to get rebates and refunds, hoops and hurdles for cancelling a subscription or gym membership, excessive paperwork necessary to get insurance reimbursements, and more. The announcement basically describes the indignities of modern life as a consumer in a capitalist economy. Indeed, it seems to describe one big dark pattern, designed to “maximize profits.”

Interestingly, the “initiative” is really more of a round-up of existing efforts by disparate agencies. These efforts include the FTC’s pending rule-making on auto-renewals and subscriptions and on fake reviews and endorsements; the Department of Transportation's new automatic cash refund requirements for airlines; the Department of Health and Human Services' efforts to streamline the health care reimbursement process; the CFPB’s efforts to address chatbot-provided customer services, and even the Department of Education’s upcoming guidance to schools about how to make parent engagement easier. 

Notwithstanding the fact that all of the actions described aren't really new, the announcement signals the current administration’s ongoing interest in, and efforts to address, the corporate practices that the administration says “degrade” consumers’ quality of life. However, the US Chamber of Commerce wasted no time in issuing its own announcement stating that the “regulatory burden” to be imposed by these not-new initiatives will “cost the American people more time and money.”  

Which position ultimately prevails may well depend on what happens in November.