Govt Cracks Down On Dark Patterns, Gives E-Commerce Firms 3-Month Audit Deadline

(MENAFN- Live Mint) New Delhi: In a sweeping move to protect online shoppers from digital manipulation, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has directed all e-commerce platforms to conduct self-audits within three months to identify and eliminate“dark patterns”-deceptive design tricks that mislead users into making unintended purchases or subscriptions.

The directive, issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on Saturday, calls on platforms not only to audit their user interfaces but also to submit voluntary self-declarations confirming they are free of such practices. The goal, the authority said, is to foster a fair and transparent digital ecosystem that builds consumer trust.

To back this effort, the Department of Consumer Affairs has set up a Joint Working Group (JWG) comprising representatives from key ministries, regulators, national law universities and consumer organisations. The group will identify violations, suggest awareness campaigns, and share findings with the department on a regular basis.

Read this | Are Indian apps manipulating you? Unveiling the dark patterns of online shopping

The CCPA has already served notices to platforms found violating the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, notified in November 2023. These guidelines formally defined 13 such tactics, including false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, subscription traps, disguised advertisements, and interface interference.

Among the most common are false urgency-where platforms create a misleading sense of scarcity to prompt quick purchases-and basket sneaking, which involves adding items like insurance or donations to a user's cart without clear consent. Confirm shaming uses guilt-inducing language to steer users toward certain actions, while subscription traps make sign-ups easy but cancellations deliberately hard. Other tactics include drip pricing, where hidden costs appear only at checkout, and promotional content disguised as organic features.

The crackdown is part of a larger government strategy to curb unfair trade practices in India's fast-expanding e-commerce sector. On 29 May, the Department of Consumer Affairs convened a meeting chaired by Union Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, attended by representatives from over 50 companies, including Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, Flipkart, Swiggy, Paytm, and MakeMyTrip, as well as industry bodies like NASSCOM, FICCI, CAIT, and voluntary consumer groups. The meeting focused on how companies can implement the new measures.

A Mint report published the same day noted that the government had already instructed e-commerce firms to conduct annual internal audits to detect and eliminate dark patterns, calling it part of a“joint strategy” to strengthen consumer protection in the digital economy.

Read here | Centre tells e-commerce firms to hold on annual audit of 'dark patterns'

To bolster enforcement, the government has also launched three tech tools developed with IIT-BHU under the 2023 Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon: the Jagriti App, which lets users report deceptive practices; the Jago Grahak Jago App, which provides real-time safety scores for e-commerce links; and the Jagriti Dashboard, a backend analytics tool for regulators.

Also read | New rules on dark patterns: how they may change your online shopping experience

India is the first country to issue dedicated guidelines to regulate dark patterns. Government officials said the aim is not to hamper digital commerce but to ensure that its rapid growth is matched by ethical standards and consumer safeguards.

MENAFN07062025007365015876ID1109647641