'Dark Patterns' in Online Advertisements

The Union Consumer Affairs Ministry has urged consumers to flag such manipulative online practices on the National Consumer helpline and asks online platforms not to engage in 'Unfair Trade Practices' or manipulate consumer choice.

Dark Patterns- Involve using a design and choice architecture to trick, coerce or influence consumers to make choices not in their best interest.

Dark Patterns are User Interface (UI) design techniques that intentionally mislead or deceive users into making choices that are not in their best interests. These techniques are often used by businesses to increase sales or collect personal data from users.

Regulation- Engaging in such deceptive and manipulative conduct by using dark patterns, in online interfaces unfairly exploits consumer's interest and constitutes 'Unfair Trade Practice' under the consumer protection act, 2019.

Recently, regulators in other jurisdictions such as the European Union, USA, and the UK have taken action against dark patterns involving unfair and deceptive practices in online interfaces which were found to be detrimental to consumers.

Some eg. of Dark Pattern are:-

1. False Urgency- This tactic creates a sense of urgency or scarcity to pressure consumers into making a purchase or taking action.

2. Basket Sneaking- Websites or Apps use dark patterns to add additional products or services to the shopping cart without user content.

3. Subscription Traps- This tactic makes it easy for consumers to sign up for a service but difficult for them to cancel.

4. Confirm Shaming- It involves guilt as a way to make consumers sign up for a service but difficult for them to cancel it, often by hiding the cancellation option or requiring multiple steps.

5. Forced Action- This involves forcing consumers into taking an action they may not want to take, such as signing up for a service to access content.

6. Nagging- It refers to persistent, repetitive, and annoyingly constant criticism, complaints, and requests for action to be completed.

7. Interface Interference- This tactic involves making it difficult for consumers to take certain actions, such as canceling a subscription or deleting an account.

8. Bait & Switch- This involves advertising one product or service but delivering another, often of lower quality.

9. Hidden Costs- This tactic involves hiding additional costs from consumers until they are already committed to making a purchase.

10. Disguised Ads- Disguised ads are advertisements that are designed to look like other types of content, such as news articles or user-generated content.