Context:

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has asked Airline Companies to rectify their websites, following a series of complaints regarding practices by airlines and online travel agents that trick consumers into making unintended purchases.

Airline Tickets: Unveiling Dark Patterns

• Most complaints are related to airlines showing all available seats as paid when purchasing a ticket, and incidents of passengers being denied boarding despite a valid ticket.
• Some of these practices amounted to “dark patterns,” where the user interface of websites is designed to dupe consumers.

What is Dark Pattern?

• A dark pattern is one where an entity nudges consumers to buy products they didn’t intend to, which is an unfair trading practice and can constitute a cybercrime.
• It is a digital design interface used to manipulate customer behavior.
• These forms of dark patterns have been defined in the draft guidelines of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which was released on September 7 to seek public comments for a period of 30 days (Refer Table).

How do companies use dark patterns?

• Social media companies and Big Tech firms such as Apple, Amazon, Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Google use dark or deceptive patterns to downgrade the user experience to their advantage.
• For Example: In social media, LinkedIn users often receive unsolicited, sponsored messages from influencers. Disabling this option is a difficult process with multiple steps that requires users to be familiar with the platform controls.

Regulatory Measures Taken in India 

• Department of Consumer Affairs summoned cab and two-wheeler aggregators to come clean on their charges and algorithms, as consumer angst and frustration with these services rose to alarming levels. 
• The Department also formed a consultation group to address the issue of fake online reviews. 
• The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), has been addressing such issues through its existing code on misleading ads. 
• The ASCI code applies across media, including online advertising (including companies’ own websites, pages and handles). 

Source: The Hindu