Deceptive Dark Patterns of E-Commerce Explained by Sachin Verma

The surge in E-commerce and internet penetration in recent years has introduced various tactics used by E-retailers to manipulate consumer behaviour. Sachin Verma, an expert in the field, sheds light on 13 deceptive dark patterns commonly employed in e-commerce. These patterns range from hidden costs and false urgency to forced continuity and sneaky pre-selection, all aimed at influencing consumers into making purchases they may not have intended to make.

Verma’s insights provide valuable information for consumers to be aware of these tactics and make informed decisions while shopping online. Recently, a gazette notification was issued regarding ‘Guidelines for prevention and regulation of dark patterns’ on November 30 by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA). These guidelines are applicable to all platforms offering goods and services in India, including advertisers and sellers.

In line with the gazette notification, the government has banned deceptive ‘dark patterns’ on e-commerce platforms to safeguard consumer interests and prevent manipulation of choices. Speaking on the 13 Deceptive Dark Patterns of E-commerce, Sachin Verma, an e-commerce expert and Founder of FEDUS, said, ‘The central government’s initiative is impressive in tackling deceptive patterns. The ban on 13 deceptive patterns will enhance transparency between sellers and consumers.’

‘The ban will ensure that consumers are not misled or manipulated into making choices that are not in their best interests. This move by the government is a step towards creating a fair and transparent e-commerce environment for both buyers and sellers,’ he added.

Sachin Verma explained the 13 Deceptive Dark Patterns of E-commerce:

1. ‘False Urgency’ involves falsely stating or implying a sense of urgency or scarcity to mislead a user into making an immediate purchase or taking immediate action that may lead to a purchase. This includes: (i) Showing false popularity of a product or service to manipulate user decision. (ii) Stating that quantities of a particular product or service are more limited than they are.
2. ‘Basket Sneaking’ refers to the inclusion of additional items such as products, services, payments to charity, or donations at the time of checkout from a platform, without the consent of the user. This results in the total amount payable by the user being more than the amount payable for the chosen product or service. However, the addition of free samples, complimentary services, or necessary disclosed fees at the time of purchase does not constitute basket sneaking.
3. ‘Confirm Shaming’ involves using phrases, videos, audio, or any means to create a sense of fear, shame, ridicule, or guilt in the user’s mind. This nudges the user to act in a certain way that leads to purchasing a product or service from the platform or continuing a subscription, primarily for commercial gains by subverting consumer choice.
4. ‘Forced Action’ means compelling a user to take action that would require them to buy additional goods, subscribe to an unrelated service, or share personal information to buy or subscribe to the originally intended product or service.
5. ‘Subscription Trap’ includes: (i) Making cancellation of a paid subscription impossible or a complex and lengthy process. (ii) Hiding the cancellation option for a subscription. (iii) Forcing a user to provide payment details or authorization for auto-debits to avail a free subscription. (iv) Making instructions related to subscription cancellation ambiguous, latent, confusing, or cumbersome.
6. ‘Interface Interference’ refers to a design element that manipulates the user interface by (a) highlighting certain specific information and (b) obscuring other relevant information relative to the other information. This misdirects a user from taking the desired action.
7. ‘Bait and Switch’ is the practice of advertising a particular outcome based on the user’s action but deceptively serving an alternate outcome.
8. ‘Drip Pricing’ is a practice whereby: (i) Elements of prices are not revealed upfront or are revealed surreptitiously within the user experience. (ii) The price is revealed post-confirmation of purchase, i.e., charging an amount higher than the amount disclosed at the time of checkout. (iii) A product or service is advertised as free without appropriate disclosure that continued use requires in-app purchase. (iv) Preventing a user from availing a service, which is already paid for unless something additional is purchased.
9. ‘Disguised Advertisement’ involves posing or masking advertisements as other types of content such as user-generated content or news articles, designed to blend in with the rest of an interface to trick customers into clicking on them.
10. ‘Nagging’ refers to a dark pattern practice where a user is disrupted and annoyed by repeated and persistent interactions, in the form of requests, information, options, or interruptions, to effectuate a transaction and make some commercial gains unless specifically permitted by the user.
11. ‘Trick Question’ involves the deliberate use of confusing or vague language like confusing wording, double negatives, or other similar tricks to misguide or misdirect a user from taking the desired action or leading the consumer to a specific response or action.
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) business model by exploiting positive acquisition loops in recurring subscriptions to get money from users as surreptitiously as possible.
13. ‘Rogue Malwares’ involve using ransomware or scareware to mislead or trick users into believing there is a virus on their computer and aims to convince them to pay for a fake malware removal tool that installs malware on their computer.