India: Opened consultation on Draft Guidelines for the Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns

On 7 September 2023, the Department of Consumer Affairs of India opened a public consultation on draft guidelines for the prevention and regulation of dark patterns until 5 October 2023. The guidelines aim to address manipulation or alteration of consumer choices and apply to all natural and legal persons, particularly online platforms, sellers, and advertisers. The guidelines include a definition of dark patterns, describing them as "any practices or deceptive design patterns using UI/UX (user interface/user experience) interactions on any platform; designed to mislead or trick users to do something they originally did not intend or want to do ", and classify them as being against the interest of consumers. Furthermore, the draft guidelines lists specific dark patterns, such as "false urgency", "subscription traps", "nagging", and others, and would prohibit their use by any person and online platforms.