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NEW DELHI: The government has banned the use of “dark patterns” — purposefully designed deceptions — by e-commerce and all other online platforms while selling goods and services that manipulate customers and nudge them into signing up for or purchasing things they didn’t mean to or lure them to buy a more expensive product. The government has notified resorting to this as an “unfair trading practice”.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, offenders can face fines and penal action from the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and can also be tried in the consumer commissions.
In a gazette notification issued by the CCPA titled “Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns”, the authority has defined “dark patterns” as any practice or “deceptive design pattern” using user interface or user experience interactions on any platform that is designed to mislead or trick users to do something they did not intend or want to do.
The guidelines that have legal backing will apply to all platforms, systematically offering goods or services; advertisers and sellers.
The ministry has defined 13 deceptive practices that will be treated as ‘dark patterns’ and these include creating false urgency by creating an artificial sense of scarcity; basket sneaking, where the inclusion of additional items such that the total amount payable by the user is more than the amount payable for the product as well as subscription trap.
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