On November 30, 2023, India’s Central Consumer Protection Authority notified guidelines for the prevention and regulation of dark patterns deployed in advertisements and user interface of apps, and websites of e-commerce platforms. The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) first published draft guidelines for tackling dark patterns in September 2023, after a two-month-long consultation with stakeholders including e-commerce platforms, law firms, government and other consumer protection organisations. Amongst the first stakeholders to be consulted was the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI). Additionally, in June 2023, ASCI adopted new guidelines for ‘Online Deceptive Design Patterns in Advertising’ to address problems caused by dark patterns in online advertising. MediaNama spoke to Manisha Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General, ASCI, to understand the factors that distinguish dark patterns in advertising and those in products and services, and to discuss challenges related to identification of dark patterns and enforcement of the guidelines. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/fmRmMbq-iEI Here's a complete transcript of the interview: MediaNama: What called for separate guidelines specifically for dark patterns? Are there any evidential studies/reports from India that show a rise in user complaints regarding deceitful selling patterns deployed by online platforms? Manisha Kapoor: I would say the patterns or the guidelines for dark patterns is really under the larger umbrella of what could be considered misleading advertisements. So that's an existing guideline that ASCI has been working on, in fact, for several years and decades, which is the guidelines on misleading advertisements. However, from time to…
