Consumer Rights Act — Digital Content
Written in plain language for general understanding. This is educational content, not legal advice. Based on UK Acts of Parliament, statutory instruments, and official guidance.
UK National Law
What is this right?
Digital content — apps, games, music, films, ebooks, software, and streaming services — has its own set of consumer rights:
- Digital content must be of satisfactory quality
- It must be fit for a particular purpose
- It must be as described
If the digital content is faulty:
- You have the right to repair or replacement
- If repair/replacement is not possible or doesn't fix the problem, you have the right to a price reduction (which may be a full refund)
Importantly, if a free update or patch damages content you've already paid for, the trader must fix it.
When does it apply?
- You paid for digital content (or it was supplied alongside paid goods or services, like pre-installed software on a laptop).
- Free digital content included with a paid product is also covered.
- Free trials and freemium services may have limited coverage unless they came with paid content.
- This section works alongside the online shopping cancellation rights — so for digital downloads, you can usually cancel before downloading begins.
What should you do?
- Contact the seller (the platform or retailer, e.g., App Store, Steam, Amazon) and explain the fault.
- If the content is buggy, crashes, or doesn't work as described, request a repair (patch/update) or replacement.
- If the trader can't fix it, claim a price reduction or refund.
- Screenshot or record evidence of the problem.
What should you NOT do?
- Don't assume "digital" means no rights — the Consumer Rights Act 2015 was specifically designed to cover digital content.
- Don't accept terms that waive your statutory rights — any contract term that tries to exclude these rights is unfair and unenforceable.
- Don't ignore updates that break things — if an update from the trader damages your content or device, they must fix it or compensate you.
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