CCPA cracks down on online platforms using dark patterns to mislead

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is coming down hard on online platforms that violate customer rights, either by using dark patterns or not providing full information about the money they seek from customers.

 

Recently, the CCPA served a notice to a popular online ticket booking platform for charging customers ₹1 for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) donation while booking tickets on its app. This is an example of basket sneaking — a dark pattern that refers to the inclusion of additional items such as products, services, or payments to charity/donation at the time of checkout from a platform — without the consent of a user.

 

“This is a clear violation of consumer rights, where the customer has no choice but to pay the amount, however small. We also noted that the platform did not disclose the specifics of where the amount was going or how it was being used,” a government official told Business Standard on the condition of anonymity.

 

After receiving the notice earlier this year, the platform has tweaked its interface, allowing customers to choose whether they wish to donate or not, the official said.

 

Dark patterns are practices or deceptive design patterns using user interface/user experience (UI/UX) interactions on any platform. They are designed to mislead or trick users into doing something they originally did not intend or want to do.

 

Dark patterns contribute to unfair trade practices and can be classified as a violation of consumer rights.

 

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has been working towards eliminating the usage of dark patterns by ecommerce platforms and online portals.  Last year, the government had notified guidelines to prevent the usage of dark patterns, which include patterns like ‘basket sneaking’ and ‘confirm shaming’, which refers to using a phrase, video, audio, or any other means to create a sense of fear, shame, ridicule, or guilt in the mind of the user. It nudges them to act in a certain way that results in the user purchasing a product or service.