Zepto, BookMyShow, SpiceJet penalised: What are the 13 'dark patterns' for which digital platforms can be sued?

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) conducted a broad crackdown on nine digital platforms for influencing consumer choices through deceptive practices. Some of these companies were penalised, including Zepto, Physics Wallah, FirstCry, SpiceJet, PharmaEasy, McAfee and Anuj Jindal.

Zepto was penalised Rs 7 lakh for adding handling charges and membership fees to the basket after displaying discounted rates for individual products.

Physics Wallah, the digital education platform, was charged Rs 5 lakh for pre-selecting a Rs 10 donation to its PW Foundation and adding persuasive messaging to induce guilt into retaining the pre-selected donation amount.

The CCPA also notified the flight service, IndiGo, for using a manipulative opt-out button which said: “No, I will take the risk.” Following the regulator’s intervention, IndiGo changed the prompt to neutral messaging: “No, I will not add to the trip,” narrowly escaping the penalty.

These practices come under a longer list of 13 practices under the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns 2023. It aims to protect consumers from making decisions based on deceptive design techniques on digital platforms. While these may seem like marketing techniques, if an app uses the following techniques to drive consumer demand, it can be sued.

False urgency: Creating a scarcity of products or resetting countdown timers to rush a purchase. SpiceJet was penalised Rs 1 lakh for using fake countdown timers during flight ticket sales to induce panic and rush users into checking out.

Basket sneaking: Adding products, services, or charitable donations at checkout without the consent of the user, such that the payable total amount is more than the price of the products chosen. BookMyShow was ordered to remove a pre-ticked Rs 1 to 2 contribution to its charity initiative that auto-added to the ticket total.

Confirm Shaming: Inducing guilt, shame, fear or ridicule, and emotionally manipulating the user to purchase a product, service or add a subscription from the platform. Indigo was warned of deploying this technique.

Forced Action: Compelling users to buy extra goods or share personal data to complete an unrelated transaction. Physics Wallah forced students to provide personal information to access courses that were advertised as entirely free.

Subscription Trap: Hiding cancellation buttons or intentionally complicating the opt-out process for a subscription. McAfee forced users through a complex loop of links just to cancel an auto-renewing software subscription.

Interface Interference: Designing layouts to visually highlight profitable actions.

Bait and Switch: Advertising a lower price, but delivering a more expensive result once the transaction starts. For example, a cab ride is priced at 150 initially, but changes to 280 once the booking is confirmed.

Drip Pricing: Hiding mandatory components of the final price and revealing them only on the very last payment screen. FirstCry was penalised Rs 2 lakh for advertising product discounts on its storefront, but adding GST charges at the last payment page that cancel out most of the discount.

Disguised Advertisements: Styling a paid ad or video to look identical to organic media coverage.

Nagging: Bombarding users with continuous repetitive pop-ups to change their choice. For example, if an app repeatedly pops up texts saying “Switch on notifications” even after the user clicked “no”.

Trick Questions: Using confusing, misaligned phrasing to get accidental consumer consent. If a checkbox text says “uncheck this box if you do not wish to opt out of receiving daily marketing updates”, it confuses the user about whether checking it helps or hurts privacy.

SaaS Billing: Charging recurring fees on a user’s credit card without sending a clear notification prior to the payment. If Spotify or Netflix does not send an auto-payment notification for the user’s subscription, it can be sued under SaaS Billing.

Rogue Malware: Using hyperlinks or fake “Download Now” buttons to trick you into downloading randomware or malware. Free movie-streaming websites that fake a “play video” button to open new tabs that download harmful files onto your device.