To protect consumer interests, the government has banned the use of ‘dark patterns’ on e-commerce platforms, which are intended to mislead customers or manipulate their choices.
On November 30, a gazette notice was issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) as ‘Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns’, which applies to all platforms offering goods and services in India, and even to advertisers and sellers.
The use of shady patterns will amount to misleading advertising, unfair trade practices or violation of consumer rights. The fine will be imposed as per the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, it added.
“In the emerging digital commerce, shady patterns are increasingly being used by the platforms to deceive the consumers by manipulating their purchasing choices and behavior,” Consumer Affairs Minister Rohit Kumar Singh told PTI.
The notified guidelines will bring clarity in the minds of all stakeholders – buyers, sellers, marketplaces and regulators – on what is not acceptable as unfair trade practices, with the latter liable under the Consumer Protection Act, he added.
According to the notice, dark patterns are defined as any practice or deceptive design pattern that uses user interfaces or user experience interactions on any platform and is designed to trick or mislead users into doing something they did not originally intend or want to do, by undermining or affecting consumer autonomy, decision-making or choice.
For example, ‘basket sneaking’ is a shady pattern that includes additional items such as products, services, charity payments or donation at the time of checkout from a platform, without user consent, so that the total amount payable by the user user exceeds the amount owed for the product or service chosen by the user.
Another shady pattern called “forced action” involves forcing a user to take an action that requires the user to purchase additional goods or subscribe or sign up for an unrelated service or share personal information in order to purchase or subscribe to the product or service. originally intended by the user.
Similarly, the CCPA has specified 13 dark patterns, which serve solely as guidance for the industry.
Initially, the CCPA had identified ten dark patterns, but three more were added following the public consultation.
