Govt to hold talks with e-commerce platforms over dark patterns

New Delhi: The government has called major e-commerce platforms for a meeting to push for stronger measures against dark patterns as well as to discuss penal actions for regulatory violations, the ministry of consumer affairs said in a statement on Monday.

The meeting will be held on 28 May and chaired by Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Pralhad Joshi.

Dark patterns—deceptive user interface design tactics used by online platforms to manipulate consumers into making unintended choices—have increasingly come under the scanner for undermining consumer trust in digital markets. As per the government, curbing such practices is key to ensuring a fair and transparent e-commerce ecosystem.

Industry giants including Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Apple and Meta will participate in the meeting, the ministry said.

The meeting will also showcase best practices adopted by certain companies towards protecting consumer rights, as well as include industry associations, consumer bodies, and law universities for research-backed insights on framing better compliance systems, a senior government official said.

In response to an email query, a spokesperson for EaseMyTrip said, “We take the issue of dark patterns seriously and were the first in the travel industry to engage an independent consultant to proactively identify and address any unintentional dark pattern concerns. We fully support the department’s initiative and believe it is a much-needed step toward fostering greater trust and accountability in the digital ecosystem.”

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“Despite all the consumer-centric initiatives taken by the government, some e-commerce players are still not adhering to the prescribed norms. We have already taken action against a few of them and will continue to do so wherever there is non-compliance,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “At the meeting, all major platforms will be asked to stop such malpractices and will be informed of the consequences if they fail to comply within a stipulated time.”

Consumer protection and business ease are not conflicting goals, the official said. “The government’s approach is not to punish innovation but to ensure that technology does not come at the cost of consumer exploitation.”

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Ways of deception

The government has been on guard against e-commerce companies using dark patterns to deceive or shame consumers into making purchases.

In November 2023, the Department of Consumer Affairs issued detailed guidelines on dark patterns, identifying 13 misleading practices such as false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, subscription traps, disguised advertisements, and interface interference. 

These guidelines had followed months of stakeholder consultations and growing concern over manipulative online design tactics.

To strengthen the measures, the department last year launched a Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon, inviting tech solutions to detect and prevent such practices. Following the hackathon, which was conducted in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi, three consumer protection apps were launched on 24 December—India’s National Consumers Day.

Also read | Technology to help consumers identify e-commerce platforms’ dark patterns

One common type of dark pattern is false urgency, where platforms create a misleading sense of scarcity—such as “Only 1 left in stock!”—to pressure users into making quick purchases. Another is basket sneaking, in which additional items like insurance or donation charges are added to an online shopper’s cart without clear consent.

Confirm shaming is also widespread. This involves guilt-tripping users into agreeing to something by making the opt-out choice sound negative (for example, “No thanks, I don’t like saving money”).

Subscription traps lure users with easy sign-ups but make cancellations deliberately difficult. Drip pricing reveals hidden costs only at the final checkout stage, while disguised ads are promotional content made to look like organic site features.