ROME, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Spanish online travel agency group eDreams has been fined 9 million euros ($10.65 million) by Italy's competition authority (AGCM) over its promotion of membership subscriptions, the watchdog said on Wednesday.
The regulator said the group's companies employed manipulative digital tactics, known as dark patterns, to pressure consumers into subscribing to and maintaining its prime service.
The company did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The AGCM said eDreams misrepresented the actual value of discounts and failed to provide transparent pricing differences based on user access methods and deployed retention tactics that obstructed customers seeking to cancel prime memberships.
($1 = 0.8452 euros)
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Cristina CarlevaroAdditional reporting by David Latona in MadridEditing by David Goodman)
