Consumer Affairs Ministry directs ecommerce cos to conduct dark pattern audits
The CCPA plans to look into the complaints regarding the use of dark patterns on quick commerce platforms as well. It has already issued notices to 11 companies for the use of dark patterns.
Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday met with consumer tech players and directed them to conduct regular internal audits to curb dark patterns.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) recently issued notices to 11 companies for employing dark patterns. She said overall more than 400 notices have been issued to companies for unfair trade practices. The government will also look into dark patterns being employed by quick commerce platforms.
"Companies must not wait for the Central Consumer Protection Authority to intervene. They should proactively recognise and remove these deceptive practices before notices are issued," shared Joshi at the meeting in New Delhi.
Representatives from Amazon, Zepto, Ola Electric, Tata Digital, Netmeds, Namma Yatri, PharmEasy, Reliance Retail, Rapido, Snapdeal, Swiggy, Uber, Zomato, Blinkit, Flipkart, ONDC, and Paytm were present at the meeting. The discussion was also attended by industry associations including the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), Competition Commission of India, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Retailers Association of India.
The meeting comes after the National Consumer Helpline saw a significant surge in consumer complaints related to dark patterns.
The Consumer Affairs Ministry in 2023 had recognised 13 prominent dark patterns in ecommerce, including 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.
(With inputs from PTI.)
Edited by Kanishk Singh