The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, has recently established a 17-member task force to develop guidelines for consumer protection to address the issue of Dark Patterns. Dark Patterns are deceptive tactics used by businesses to trick consumers into making unwanted purchases or giving away personal information. The task force will study the issue of Dark Patterns and develop guidelines for businesses to follow. The guidelines will be based on the following principles:
Businesses should be transparent about their practices and should not use deceptive tactics to mislead consumers.
Businesses should respect consumers’ privacy and should not collect or use personal information without consent.
Businesses should provide consumers with clear and concise information about their products and services.
Businesses should give consumers the opportunity to easily opt out of unwanted marketing or other communications.
What are the Dark Patterns?
About:
Dark patterns, also known as deceptive patterns, refer to strategies employed by websites and apps to make users perform actions they did not intend to or discourage behaviors that are not advantageous for the companies.
The term was coined by Harry Brignull, a user experience (UX) designer, in 2010.
These patterns often exploit cognitive biases and employ tactics such as false urgency, forced actions, hidden costs etc.
They can range from overtly noticeable tricks to more subtle methods that users may not immediately recognize.
Types of Dark Patterns: The Consumer Affairs Ministry has identified nine types of dark patterns being used by e-commerce companies:
False Urgency: Creates a sense of urgency or scarcity to pressure consumers into making a purchase or taking an action;
Basket Sneaking: Dark patterns are used to add additional products or services to the shopping cart without the user’s consent;
Confirm Shaming: Uses guilt to make consumers adhere; criticises or attacks consumers for not conforming to a particular belief or viewpoint;
Forced Action: Pushes consumers into taking an action they may not want to take, such as signing up for a service in order to access content;
Nagging: Persistent criticism, complaints, and requests for action;
Subscription traps: Easy to sign up for a service but difficult to quit or cancel; option is hidden or requires multiple steps;
Bait & Switch: Advertising a certain product/ service but delivering another, often of lower quality;
Hidden costs: Hiding additional costs until consumers are already committed to making a purchase;
Disguised ads: Designed to look like content, such as news articles or user-generated content.Social media companies and Big Tech firms such as Apple, Amazon, Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Google use dark or deceptive patterns to downgrade the user experience to their advantage.
Amazon came under fire in the European Union for its confusing, multi-step canceling process for Amazon Prime subscriptions. The process involved navigating through several pages and clicking multiple buttons, which made it difficult for customers to cancel their subscriptions. In 2022, Amazon made its cancellation process easier for online customers in European countries by reducing the number of steps required to cancel a subscription to just two. The new process is much simpler and more user-friendly, and it has been praised by consumer groups.
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