DARK
PATTERNS - SCI & TECH
News:
Centre puts e-commerce
dark patterns on notice
What's
in the news?
●
The Central Consumer Protection Authority
(CCPA) notified guidelines to prevent deceptive behaviour of e-commerce
companies by defining certain wrongful practices known as ‘dark patterns’ as
offences under consumer protection law.
Central
Consumer Protection Authority:
●
The Central
Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), India's top consumer watchdog, has
recently notified guidelines for prevention and regulation of Dark
Patterns, 2023.
●
These guidelines, issued under
the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, are designed to protect consumers
from deceptive practices employed by online platforms.
Dark
Patterns:
●
Dark patterns, also known as deceptive
patterns, refer to strategies
employed by websites and apps to make users perform actions they did
not intend to or discourage behaviours that are not advantageous for the
companies.
●
These patterns often exploit cognitive biases and employ tactics such as
false urgency, forced actions, hidden costs etc.
Key
Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns:
●
The guidelines prohibit the use
of dark patterns to mislead or coerce users.
●
The guidelines also urge entities to
retain users and drive sales using ethical and consumer-centric approaches.
●
These guidelines regarding the dark
patterns extend their applicability to all platforms offering goods and
services in India, encompassing advertisers and sellers.
●
E-commerce players, websites and apps are
subject to the regulatory framework established by these guidelines.
Types
of Dark Pattern:
The CCPA has outlined 13
types of dark patterns in its notification. They are
1.
False Urgency:
●
Creating a false sense of urgency or
scarcity to induce immediate purchases.
2.
Basket Sneaking:
●
Inclusion of additional items at checkout
without user consent, resulting in higher payments.
3.
Confirm Shaming:
●
Using fear or shame to nudge users into
specific actions for commercial gains.
4.
Forced Action:
●
Compelling users to take actions requiring
additional purchases or sharing personal information.
5.
Subscription Trap:
●
Making cancellation complex, hiding
options or forcing payment details for free subscriptions.
6.
Interface Interference:
●
Manipulating the user interface to misdirect
users from intended actions.
7.
Bait and Switch:
●
Deceptively serving an alternate outcome
than advertised based on user actions.
8.
Drip Pricing:
●
Concealing prices upfront, revealing them
post-confirmation, or preventing service use unless additional items are
purchased.
9.
Disguised Advertisement:
●
Posing advertisements as other content to
trick users into clicking.
10.
Nagging:
●
Persistent interactions disrupting and
annoying users for commercial gains.
11.
Trick Question:
●
Deliberate use of confusing language to
misguide users.
12.
SaaS Billing:
●
Generating recurring payments in a
software as a service (SaaS) model.
13.
Rogue Malwares:
●
Using ransomware or scareware to mislead
users into paying for fake malware removal tools.
Go
back to basics:
Central
Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA):
●
CCPA established under the Consumer
Protection Act of 2019, safeguards and defends consumer’s rights, issuing
guidelines for effective enforcement and enhancement of consumer rights.
Objective:
●
The objective of the CCPA is to promote, protect and enforce the
rights of consumers as a class.
●
It will be empowered to conduct
investigations into violation of consumer rights and institute complaints /
prosecution, order recall of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuation
of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, impose penalties on
manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements.