(MENAFN- KNN India) New Delhi, Jul 23 (KNN) The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued an advisory directing e-commerce platforms to conduct self-audits and eliminate dark patterns from their services, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs B.L. Verma informed Parliament on Tuesday.

The minister addressed the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing session through a written reply regarding the government's efforts to address deceptive online practices.

Dark patterns refer to design elements and choice architecture deliberately employed to deceive, coerce, or manipulate consumers into making decisions that may not serve their best interests.

The CCPA, operating under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, released the advisory earlier this month as part of broader efforts to establish a fair, ethical, and consumer-focused digital marketplace.

Verma stated that all e-commerce platforms have been instructed to take immediate measures to ensure their services do not engage in deceptive and unfair trade practices characteristic of dark patterns.

The platforms are required to complete comprehensive self-audits within three months of the advisory's issuance to identify and eliminate such practices from their systems.

Following the completion of these self-assessments, e-commerce companies must provide formal declarations confirming their platforms are free from dark patterns.

This requirement aims to foster transparency and rebuild consumer trust in digital commerce while ensuring fair trading practices across the sector.

The advisory emerged from consultations held by the Department of Consumer Affairs in May, which brought together representatives from major e-commerce companies and industry associations.

These discussions specifically focused on strategies to eliminate deceptive online practices and improve consumer protection in digital marketplaces.

The current initiative builds upon guidelines issued by the CCPA in November 2023 for preventing and regulating dark patterns.

Those guidelines identified 13 specific dark patterns commonly found in the e-commerce sector, including false urgency tactics, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced actions, subscription traps, interface interference, bait and switch practices, drip pricing, disguised advertisements, persistent nagging, deceptive wording, software-as-a-service billing irregularities, and rogue malware deployment.

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, these manipulative practices encompass various deceptive techniques such as drip pricing, disguised advertisements, bait and switch schemes, and false urgency notifications.

The ministry clarified that such practices fall under the definition of 'unfair trade practices' as specified in Sub-section 47 under Section 2 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, providing legal framework for regulatory action against non-compliant platforms.

(KNN Bureau)

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