E-commerce News : E-commerce warned against dark patterns

E-commerce News: Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare on Tuesday E-commerce warned companies against implementing deceptive user interface designs known as “dark patterns”, saying the practice violates consumer rights and amounts to unfair trade. The Consumer Affairs Ministry has called dark patterns a form of deceptive user interface design that allows consumers to use deceptive, unethical and unfair trade practices on platforms. UI/UX is defined as a design that

Users mislead consumers about their intended actions, undermine consumer autonomy and decision-making, and engage in deceptive advertising or unfair trade practices Business practices constitute a stakeholder group. Addressing a session of stakeholders, Khare highlighted various ways for online platforms to avoid using designs that mislead consumers into making purchases or subscriptions unknowingly, an official statement said. According to an official statement, he also stressed on the need to rely on consumer feedback, user satisfaction, and to ensure that the platform is not used to make purchases or subscriptions.

Satisfactionand suggested improvements such as monitoring frequent customers, using app features to identify non-compliance patterns, and self-auditing specified dark patterns. Representatives from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, All India Gaming Federation, and firms such as Zomato, EaseMyTrip, Urban Company, Uber and CRED attended the session.