Centre To Take Action Against Ecommerce Players For Flouting Dark Pattern Norms

The government is reportedly planning to take action against ecommerce players after receiving complaints about them flouting dark pattern norms amid the ongoing festive season sales.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is looking into  the matter and will take the necessary steps against those found violating the rules, Economic Times reported.

“We have received several complaints about companies not following dark patterns which we are examining,” the report quoted an official as saying. 

Dark patterns are design elements used by digital platforms to create a false sense of urgency and trick or mislead customers into making purchases online.

With rising internet penetration and improving access to smartphones, ecommerce has grown rapidly in the country over the last decade or so. However, besides getting complaints from offline retailers about the alleged violations of norms by the ecommerce players, the Centre has also been concerned about the use of dark patterns.

To address this issue, the government, last year, notified a host of guidelines addressing the regulation of dark patterns to curb the deceptive behaviour of ecommerce companies.

In May this year, it was reported that the government was looking to launch an app to alert customers about the use of dark patterns.

The latest development adds to the growing scrutiny of ecommerce platforms in the country. Ecommerce giants Amazon and Flipkart are already under the radar of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for their alleged unfair trade practices.

In a recent report, the antitrust watchdog found Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart guilty of violating competition laws. 

Despite all these, ecommerce continues to be a lucrative opportunity for startups and enterprises. The ecommerce sector has produced 25 unicorns and 18 soonicorns in the country. The country’s ecommerce market is expected to clock at 19% CAGR to reach a size of $400 Bn by 2030 from $116 Bn in 2023, as per an Inc42 report.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.