Secure and fair – On guidelines to prevent and regulate dark patterns

Source– The post is based on the article “Secure and fair” published in “The Hindu” on 11th September 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Science and Tech – Awareness in the field of IT

Relevance- Issues related to digital technology

News– The government has issued draft guidelines to prevent and regulate dark patterns.

What are some facts about “dark patterns”?

In 2010, the British ‘user experience researcher’ Harry Brignull introduced the term “dark patterns.” During that time, Google was perceived as a harmless search engine.

Profit-driven dark patterns were emerging. But, consumers had limited awareness of the potential consequences for their privacy, and the time, energy, and money they were spending.

Examples of dark patterns that have since become widespread. It includes the automatic pre-selection of travel insurance when booking flight tickets, the obligatory requirement to provide email addresses or phone numbers to access e-commerce websites.

These details are subsequently used for sending text messages or emails, and birthday reminders that encourage users to purchase gifts for themselves.

How governments are introducing regulations for dealing with the issue of excessive profit-driven tactics employed by online e-commerce platforms ?

The European Data Protection Board has issued guidelines to identify and avoid dark patterns on social media platforms.

The United States’ Federal Trade Commission has warned about the “increasing use of sophisticated dark patterns designed to deceive consumers.”

In India, the guidelines specify methods for recognizing and preventing deceptive tactics such as false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced actions, and subscription traps employed by online platforms.

A 2021 report from the Advertising Standards Council of India estimated that over 50% of e-commerce websites used dark patterns to promote their products.