Why Govt is going after ‘dark patterns’

Source: This article has been framed based on India Express article “Why Govt is going after ‘dark patterns”, published on 4^th July.

Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2– Government policies for the various sectors

News: The article discusses the concept of “dark patterns” and the Indian government’s initiative to curb their use on e-commerce platforms.

Dark patterns, also known as deceptive patterns, are tricks implemented by websites or apps to manipulate users into doing things they didn’t intend to, or to discourage behavior that’s not beneficial for companies. The term was coined by Harry Brignull, a London-based user experience (UX) designer, in 2010.

Read More – Centre to Issue Norms Against ‘Dark Patterns’ in Online Advertisements

For example, Instagram simplifies signing up and logging in, but makes deleting or deactivating one’s account a more complicated procedure to subtly discourage users from doing so.

The Indian government has asked e-commerce companies to stop using dark patterns on their platforms. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has set up a 17-member task force to prepare guidelines to protect consumers.

What was the need of guidelines against dark patterns?

Numerous websites and apps trick their users into allowing them to track their location or gather their data. For example, as per Vox report “Instagram uses terms like ‘activity’ and ‘personalised’ instead of ‘tracking’ and ‘targeting’. The user does not realize that what they’re actually giving the app permission to do.

It can lead to consumers making decisions that they may not have made otherwise.

This can result in consumers spending more money, sharing more personal information, or having difficulty in opting out of services.

The government’s move to curb the use of dark patterns is aimed at protecting consumers from such manipulative practices.

Government initiatives against dark patterns?

The Ministry has started classifying complaints received on the National Consumer Helpline 1915 to compile information on dark patterns.

This information can be used by the Central Consumer Protection Authority to initiate action under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

What actions have been taken in other countries against dark patterns?

The United States and the United Kingdom have enacted laws to restrict the use of dark patterns.

In 2021, 2021, California introduced amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act, which aimed to prohibit the use of dark patterns.

UK released guidelines in April 2019, which were later made legally binding under the Data Protection Act of 2018. These guidelines prohibited companies from employing “nudges” to influence underage users into selecting low privacy settings.