Central Idea
- The Indian government has invited public feedback on draft guidelines aimed at preventing and regulating “dark patterns” on the internet, particularly within e-commerce platforms.
- These guidelines target deceptive tactics such as false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced action, subscription traps, and other manipulative practices.
Understanding Dark Patterns
- The draft guidelines define dark patterns as deceptive design practices that utilize user interface and user experience interactions on any platform.
- These practices are designed to mislead or trick users into actions they did not initially intend or want to take.
- Dark patterns undermine consumer autonomy, decision-making, and choice, potentially constituting misleading advertising, unfair trade practices, or violations of consumer rights.
Types of Dark Patterns
- “False urgency” involves falsely conveying or implying a sense of urgency to users.
- “Basket sneaking” entails adding additional items to a user’s cart during the checkout process without their consent.
- “Confirm shaming” uses phrases, videos, audio, or other means to evoke fear, shame, ridicule, or guilt in users.
- “Forced action” compels users to take actions that necessitate purchasing additional goods.
- “Subscription trap” makes it nearly impossible or overly complex for users to cancel paid subscriptions.
- “Interface interference” manipulates the user interface for deceptive purposes.
- “Bait and switch” advertises a specific outcome based on user actions.
- “Drip pricing” conceals elements of prices until later in the transaction.
- “Disguised advertisement” and “nagging” are also defined in the guidelines.
Scope of Application
- The Ministry states that these guidelines will apply to all individuals and online platforms, including sellers and advertisers.
Challenges in Enforcement
- Legal experts appreciate the introduction of the draft guidelines but raises concerns about enforcement.
- They highlight the challenge of conclusively proving whether certain practices qualify as dark patterns.
- Famous is the example of the “false category” and the difficulty regulators may face in determining if claims like “only 2 rooms remaining – book now!” are genuinely accurate or misleading due to a lack of context.
- Some categories of dark patterns, such as e-retail sites adding items to users’ carts without their consent, are seen as easier to regulate, while others like “disguised advertisements” may require further clarification.
