US takes action against Uber for Dark Patterns; What about India?

With the US Federal Trade Commission filing a case against ride-hailing giant Uber for deceptive billing and cancellation practices, it now pops up an even bigger question for Indians—will the government in New Delhi also act decisively against ‘dark patterns’ increasingly used by online shopping sites and service providers to fool millions of Indians every day?

Pointing to the crackdown by the Trump administration on dark patterns, LocalCircles founder Sachin Taparia said, “The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA—of the Indian government) must take action on similar dark patterns concerns raised by consumers in India against taxi aggregators.” A LocalCircles survey this winter reported that 8 in 10 app taxi users surveyed reported dark patterns like ‘bait and switch’ and ‘forced action’, while 4 in 10 confirmed experiencing ‘drip pricing’.

Worse, price manipulation based on user information (when a person using a more expensive device like an iPhone is charged more for the same distance compared to a cheaper Android device) was also reported a few months ago, though technically, this does not come under dark patterns as classified by the Centre.

Dark patterns refer to the deceptive information on the user interface of online shopping sites that fool or force customers into making hasty decisions they may repent later, or may not have been the best decision for them. As THE WEEK article this January 12 explained—‘Ever seen the countdown timer telling you a particular discount is available only if you click on it within the ‘deadline’? Or an airline booking site offering you a great deal, but, at the last stage, adding hidden fees like taxes, user fees and whatnot? Or a platform which makes discontinuing a subscription the stuff of rocket science?’

These are all examples of dark patterns.

In India, complaints against dark patterns had reached authorities resulting in the CCPA banning the use of 13 marketing practices as dark patterns, with further action on the anvil. The Advertising Standards Council of India had categorised dark patterns as a violation of the Consumer Protection Act.

However, questions on whether bureaucrats can keep up with new tricks that nimble tech giants can come up with, or the fact that the government actions lack any penalty clause, have hindered the progress in this issue, with most ride-hailing, food aggregator, ticket booking and e-commerce sites still continuing to follow the malpractice.

“Consumers have repeatedly complained about the commonly used dark patterns like bait and switch where on the initial screen it shows that the nearest cab is a couple of minutes only to find upon pressing the book cab option that their car will take much longer to arrive”, added Taparia.

No matter his confusion sowing with the whole tariff imbroglio, Donald Trump does seem to have got the popular angst against dark patterns by tech service providers bang on. “Americans are tired of getting signed up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “The Trump-Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the American people.”

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