- Central Consumer Protection Authority fined seven e-commerce platforms Rs 20 lakh for dark patterns.
- Zepto received the highest penalty of Rs 7 lakh for drip pricing and basket sneaking practices.
- Physics Wallah was fined Rs 5 lakh for automatic donation pre-selection and misleading free course ads.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed penalties totalling Rs 20 lakh on seven e-commerce platforms, including Zepto and Physics Wallah, for indulging in 'dark patterns' practices to manipulate choices for consumers.
The enforcement actions are in accordance with the watchdog's guidelines issued in November, 2023 to curb the use of 'dark patterns' or deceptive online user interface design that tend to mislead consumers' buying choices.
"Subsequent to the Guidelines for the Prevention Dark Pattern 2023, CCPA has taken action against e-commerce platforms engaging in dark patterns and imposed a penalty to the tune of Rs 20 lakh," Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs B L Verma said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on August 4.
Zepto, Physics Wallah, Anuj Jindal, FirstCry, PharmaEasy, McAfee and SpiceJet have been penalised while notices were served to two companies -- InterGlobe Aviation and BookMyShow. They have rectified their mistakes.
A maximum penalty of Rs 7 lakh was imposed on Zepto Marketplace for using two types of dark patterns: "drip pricing and basket sneaking".
The company's platform showed lower price initially to lure consumer and added handling charge and Zepto Pass membership fee on a checkout page. The company has paid the penalty and discontinued the dark pattern.
The CCPA took suo motu cognisance of dark pattern practices by Physics Wallah Ltd (PW) and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh.
Physics Wallah deployed 'basket sneaking', through which a donation of Rs 10 to PW Foundation was automatically pre-selected during checkout without explicit consumer consent.
Moreover, the authority observed that courses advertised as 'free' required mandatory disclosure of personal information before access was granted.
"CCPA directed to ensure that no dark patterns are deployed on any of its digital interfaces and imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh. Physics Wallah deposited the penalty and discontinued the dark pattern," Verma said.
The CCPA's guidelines address and regulate 13 specific dark patterns identified in the e-commerce sector. It aims to prevent deceptive practices that mislead consumers. he said.
The 13 prominent dark patterns in e-commerce are - False Urgency; Basket Sneaking; Confirm Shaming; Forced action; Subscription trap; Interface interference; Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised advertisement, Nagging, Trick question, Saas Billing, and Rogue Malwares.
Among other companies, Verma said the Anuj Jindal-led coaching platform was penalised with Rs 3 lakh for creating false urgency accompanied by a 24-hour timer, which was found to be false and is a dark pattern practice of false urgency. The CCPA directed discontinuation of the impugned advertisements. The coaching platform discontinued the dark patterns.
Following consumer complaints, the CCPA issued a notice to InterGlobe Aviation Ltd for alleged unfair trade practices/dark pattern pertaining to 'Confirm Shaming' on the airline's app and lack of transparent communication on seat assignment.
IndiGo resolved the issue after the regulatory intervention.
In another case, the CCPA imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the FirstCry platform, particularly for displaying "MRP inclusive of all taxes", while charging additional GST at checkout, which constituted drip pricing.
A penalty of Rs 1 lakh was imposed on PharmaEasy for automatically adding PLUS membership in consumers' cart.
In the matter of McAfee LLC, the CCPA imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh.
The authority observed that instead of providing a fair and transparent choice for subscription, such as cancel or skip, the notification forces/restricts the consumer to only two choices: Accept Risk or Renew Now.
MCAfee deposited the penalty and discontinued the dark pattern.
CCPA had also issued notices to BookMyShow for dark patterns by imposing automatically an extra charge of Rs 1 on customers pre-tick without consent of the consumer after the booking of confirmed tickets.
After CCPA's intervention, the dark pattern has been discontinued.
In the case of SpiceJet, CCPA found that its website pre-ticked a checkbox enrolling consumers into the "SpiceClub Loyalty Program" while leaving the opt-out for promotional communications unticked.
According to the minister, the airline made choices on consumers' behalf without any active, informed action.
Even after CCPA's notice, SpiceJet merely replaced the unticked opt-out box with a new pre-ticked box, stating consent to receive communications, continuing the same default-consent practice.
While the airline attributed the lapse to a "technical error" and submitted an undertaking confirming permanent rectification, the watchdog imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh for the violations.
The airline has discontinued the dark pattern, the minister said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
