DARK PATTERNS: WE HAVE ALL BEEN TRICKED
- Anu Bagai
- Jan 17
- 5 min read
I was about to enrol for an online course when the app flashed:
“Offer only valid today! Tomorrow the price goes up.”
A rush of urgency hit me…my fingers hovered over the “Buy” button, my credit card ready. But then I paused. Was this truly a limited-time offer, or was I being subtly pushed, even tricked into buying?
What I faced is a classic dark pattern: and it is far more common, and serious, than most people realise.
WHAT ARE DARK PATTERNS
Dark patterns are use of design tricks in Apps and websites to manipulate and influence people into making choices and decisions that may not be in their best interest. These designs pressure, confuse, or mislead you into buying, subscribing, or sharing data.
India addresses dark patterns under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which empowers the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to prevent unfair trade practices and protect consumer rights.
In November 2023, the CCPA released the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. These guidelines outline and define 13 different types of dark patterns.
1. “False Urgency”: When an app or website tries to make you act quickly by creating a fake sense of scarcity or time pressure with a goal to push you into making a purchase or decision before you have had time to think.
Examples:
Displaying a product as “Only 1 Left” “Almost Sold Out!” even though plenty are in stock.
Showing a countdown timer or saying a sale is “ending soon” when it is not.
Claiming a product is very popular or in high demand to make you feel you need to buy immediately.
2. “Basket sneaking”: Adding extra items, services, donations, or fees to your cart without your consent, so you pay more than you expected at the time of checkout.
Example: A charity donation or an add-on subscription automatically added at checkout.
Note: Necessary fees like delivery charges, gift wrapping or taxes that are clearly shown are not considered basket sneaking.
3. “Confirm shaming” : Using a phrase, video, audio or any other means to create a sense of fear, shame, ridicule or guilt in your mind so as to nudge you to purchase the product or service.
Example: A pop-up saying, “Are you sure you don’t want to protect your family?” to push insurance purchase.
4. “Forced action”: Forcing you to do something extra to complete your intended purchase, like buying unrelated products or sharing personal data.
Example: You cannot buy a course unless you also sign up for a newsletter or another service.
5. “Subscription trap”: When a platform makes it difficult or confusing to cancel a subscription or free trial. This can include making cancellation impossible or very complicated, hiding the cancel option, forcing you to provide payment details for a “free” trial, or giving unclear instructions on how to cancel. Such practices locks you into ongoing payments and are considered unfair.
Even under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, users must be able to withdraw consent as easily as they gave it, making these traps legally questionable.
6. “Interface interference”: Highlighting some information and hiding other important details to influence your decision.
Example: Big “Accept All” buttons for data sharing, while “Reject” is hidden or greyed out.
7. “Bait and switch”: Advertising one thing, but giving you something different after you take action.
Example: Free food delivery offer is advertised but when you place the order, only selected restaurants qualify or extra fee are added at checkout.
8. “Drip pricing”: When the full price of a product of service is not shown up front and extra charges are revealed little by little during the buying process. This can include hiding parts of the price until later, advertising something is free but requiring payment to continue using it or blocking access to a service you have already paid for unless you buy something extra. Price changes caused by third party sellers of factors outside the platforms control are not considered drip-pricing.
Example: Displaying a “free” app but requiring in-app purchases to continue using it.
9. “Disguised advertisement”: When you see an ad that looks like normal content, such as a news article, a review, or a social media post; so you do not realise it is actually an advertisement. It blends into the app or website to trick you into clicking or engaging with it. Under Indian consumer law, this also counts as a misleading advertisement, and the advertiser is responsible for clearly telling you that the content is an ad.
Example: You are scrolling through a news app or social media feed and click on what looks like a genuine article or customer review. Only later do you realise it was actually a sponsored post promoting a product, with no clear label saying it was an advertisement.
10. “Nagging”: Means repeatedly interrupting with persistent prompts, notifications, or pop-ups to push you into completing a purchase or transaction, even after you have shown disinterest or have not given consent. The aim is to pressure you through repeated disruption rather than informed choice.
Example: Constant pop-ups reminding you to buy a product you just looked at. An app keeps showing pop-ups saying “Still thinking?”, “Don’t miss this deal”, or “Buy now to save more” every time you try to close it or continue browsing.
11. “Trick Question”: Means the deliberate use of confusing or vague language like confusing wording, double negatives, or other similar tricks, in order to misguide or misdirect t you into taking a particular action.
Example: A checkbox saying, “Uncheck if you do not want extra charges,” which confuses users.
12. “Saas billing” refers to the process of generating and collecting payments from consumers on a recurring basis in a software as a service (SaaS) model to extract payments as subtly as possible, exploiting the ease of automatic renewals.
Example: Auto-renewing a software subscription without clear reminders.
13. “Rogue Malwares” means using ransomware or scareware to mislead or trick you into believing there is a virus on their computer in order to convince you to pay for a fake malware removal tool that actually installs malware on your computer.
This is actionable under the Information Technology Act as well as a criminal offence.
GOVERNMENT ACTION AND THE SHIFT TOWARD ACCOUNTABILITY
The CCPA is now actively enforcing rules against dark patterns. Several major platforms have received show-cause notices and have been directed to remove deceptive interface designs and comply with consumer protection norms. Failure to do so can attract penalties under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
In June 2025, the CCPA issued a Mandatory Self-Audit Advisory, requiring major digital platforms to identify and remove dark patterns and submit compliance declarations. 26 leading e-commerce platforms have submitted their declarations.
While this shows a move toward a hybrid approach where the government enforces rules strictly while also encouraging platforms to follow them on their own in order to create a fair digital ecosystem, independent reviews have raised concerns that some platforms may still display manipulative design practices despite their declarations, underlining that self‑certification alone may not fully eliminate dark patterns in practice
WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOU FACE A DARK PATTERN
1. File a Grievance (Pre-Litigation)
National Consumer Helpline Portal- a pre litigation stage step. Complaints are forwarded to the company/Platform concerned for redressal.
2. Consumer Complaint
In case there is no satisfactory redressal on the complaint by the concerned platform/company, a formal consumer complaint can be filed in an appropriate Consumer Commission through the E-Jagriti platform.
Conclusion
Dark patterns are designed to manipulate consumer choices. Staying vigilant, understanding these tricks, and reporting them is essential for a fairer and more transparent digital marketplace.
Disclaimer:
This blog is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should seek professional legal advice before acting on the information provided.
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