NEW DELHI: The government will hold a meeting on May 28 with representatives from major e-commerce platforms across sectors such as food, travel, cosmetics, pharmacy, retail, clothing, and electronics. The aim is to address the growing problem of dark patterns manipulative design tactics used to mislead or pressure consumers online.
According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, dark patterns include practices such as false urgency (e.g. misleading warnings about limited stock), adding unwanted items to baskets automatically, hiding extra charges, persistent pop-ups (also known as nagging), and other unfair tricks.
Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi will meet stakeholders from a wide range of companies including Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg.com, Apple, BigBasket, Meesho, Meta, MakeMyTrip, Paytm, Ola, Reliance Retail Limited, Swiggy, Zomato, Yatra, Uber, Tata, EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip, IndiaMart, IndiGo Airlines, ixigo, Justdial, Medikabazaar, Netmeds, ONDC, Thomas Cook, and WhatsApp.
“After wide consultation with stakeholders, the Department issued detailed guidelines on November 30, 2023 to prevent dark patterns in e-commerce. These guidelines identify 13 common types of dark patterns, such as False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming, Forced Action, Subscription Trap, Interface Interference, Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisement, Nagging, Trick Question, SaaS Billing, and Rogue Malware,” the Ministry said in a statement.
Last week, Minister Joshi also criticised app-based cab service Uber for its "Advance Tip" feature, calling it "unethical and exploitative." In a social media post, he said the feature encourages users to tip in advance in return for faster service. Following this, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued a notice to Uber asking for an explanation.
Earlier in January, the CCPA also issued notices to Uber and Ola over claims of charging different prices depending on whether users had Android or iPhone devices.
“As a follow-up to concerns about apparent price differences based on mobile phone type (iPhone or Android), the Department of Consumer Affairs, through the CCPA, sent notices to cab aggregators Ola and Uber, requesting their responses,” Joshi posted on X (formerly Twitter) on January 23.
Both Uber and Ola have denied the allegations, stating that fares are not affected by the type of phone used.