Regulatory Acknowledgment of Individual Autonomy in European Digital Legislation: From Meta-Principle to Explicit Protection in the Data Act

Individual autonomy has been explicitly recognized in the European Union’s 2022 Data Act proposal. This article shows that such unprecedented inclusion of an EU regulatory framework targeting digital domain marks a paradigm shift for digital-sector legislation away from mostly tacit recognition as meta-principle to more aggressive posture. It contextualizes this nascent development by highlighting turn towards protection mental privacy recent sector-relevant and investigates intent scope Article 6 proposal light increasing focus on so-called dark patterns. Keywords: Autonomy | Digital Legislation