{"id":272514,"date":"2023-12-05T20:17:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T14:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=272514"},"modified":"2023-12-05T20:17:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T14:47:41","slug":"on-regulating-dark-patterns-battling-dark-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/on-regulating-dark-patterns-battling-dark-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"On Regulating \u2018Dark Patterns\u2019 \u2013 Battling dark patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:<\/strong> This post on Regulating \u2018Dark Patterns\u2019 has been created based on the article \u201cBattling dark patterns\u201d<\/strong> published in \u201cBusiness Standard\u201d<\/strong> on 5th<\/sup> December 2023.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic: <\/strong>GS Paper 2 Governance – Government policies and interventions.<\/p>\n

News:<\/strong> The article discusses the growing concern of digital platforms employing \u2018dark patterns\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Central Consumer Protection Agency (CCPA)<\/strong> has issued guidelines for the prevention and regulation of \u2018dark patterns\u2019<\/strong> on the web. These guidelines will apply to all digital platforms offering goods and services<\/strong> in India.<\/p>\n

Read about the Central Consumer Protection Agency (CCPA) <\/strong>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What are \u2018Dark Patterns\u2019?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Dark patterns refer to a variety of deceptive practices used to manipulate or strongly influence online consumers into making consumer decisions that might not align with their best interests.<\/p>\n

They are designed to manipulate user behaviour by exploiting psychological vulnerabilities. These are widely recognised as unfair trade practices.<\/p>\n

Examples: A false timer showing offer expiry, showing limited stocks, being part of mailing subscription lists that are hard to opt out of, collecting user data by evading informed consent, etc.<\/p>\n

What are the growing concerns regarding Dark Patterns?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Increased Manipulation due to Technological Advances: <\/strong>The proliferation of dark patterns may only increase with further advances in machine learning and automation.<\/li>\n
  2. Financial Harm: <\/strong>Their use in the financial services industry can cause significant harm to savers and investors (for example, being lured into taking short-term high-interest credit).<\/li>\n
  3. Disproportionately harms vulnerable socio-economic groups: <\/strong>Certain socio-economic groups and individuals with low digital literacy are more susceptible to dark patterns.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What should be the aims of regulation of dark patterns?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    1 Protecting consumers from manipulation.<\/p>\n

    2 Preventing discrimination, so that dark patterns do not increase current inequalities.<\/p>\n

    3 It is also important to ensure that regulations do not end up significantly increasing the compliance burden for firms in India’s digital economy, which has a huge potential (According to the government’s projection, the digital economy is expected to reach 20% of India’s GDP by 2026 from the current 11%).<\/p>\n

    Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Digital literacy should be the precursor of an ever-expanding digital economy. Discuss in the context of the growing concern around \u2018dark patterns\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Source: This post on Regulating \u2018Dark Patterns\u2019 has been created based on the article \u201cBattling dark patterns\u201d published in \u201cBusiness Standard\u201d on 5th December 2023. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 Governance – Government policies and interventions. News: The article discusses the growing concern of digital platforms employing \u2018dark patterns\u2019. The Central Consumer Protection Agency… Continue reading On Regulating \u2018Dark Patterns\u2019 \u2013 Battling dark patterns<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[10503,300,212],"class_list":["post-272514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-business-standard","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":12,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1701812459},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}