Guidelines to Curb Dark Patterns

Context (TH): The Consumer Affairs Secretary stated that certain online malpractices by airlines and travel portals, using “dark patterns” in the website interface to deceive consumers, are “cybercrime.”
Dark pattern is a deceptive practice employed to influence user behaviour in a way that benefits the company implementing it.
For example, when we receive a pop-up request for personal information, we find locating the ‘reject or close’ link/button challenging.
Protection: Deceptive patterns that manipulate consumer choice and impede their right to be well-informed constitute unfair practices prohibited under the Consumer Protection Act 2019.

In September 2023, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (MoCA) released draft guidelines to curb “dark patterns” online platforms use.
The objective is to identify and define tactics as dark patterns so the MoCA can act against platforms indulging in this under Section 18 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
According to the draft document, “dark patterns” encompass:
- Any practices or deceptive design patterns within UI/UX (user interface/experience) interactions.
- Purposefully crafted manipulative triggers that trick the user into taking an action.
- Undermining consumer autonomy, decision-making, or choice, ultimately leading to misleading advertising, unfair trade practices, or violations of consumer rights.

The document specifies ten types of dark patterns: False urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced action, subscription trap, interface interference, bait and switch, drip pricing, disguised advertising, and nagging.

Dark patterns with examples

False Urgency: Falsely stating the urgency/scarcity to make someone buy something quickly. (E.g., Hurry Up! Only a few are left in stock).
Basket sneaking: Inclusion of additional items such as products, services, payments to charity/donation at the time of checkout from a platform without the user’s consent.
Confirm shaming: Using a phrase, video, audio, or any other means to create a sense of fear, shame, ridicule, or guilt in the user’s mind to nudge the user to act in a certain way.
Forced action: Forcing a user into taking an action requiring the user to buy any additional good(s) or subscribe or sign up for an unrelated service.
Nagging: Users face an overload of requests, information, options, or interruptions.
Bait and switch: Advertising a particular outcome based on the user’s action but deceptively serving an alternate outcome.
Interface interference: A design element that manipulates the user interface to highlight certain specific information and obscure other relevant information.
- For instance, On IndiGo’s mobile application, the skip option is placed in the top right corner but displayed in a tiny font.