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To safeguard consumers from deceptive practices rampant in the digital landscape, the Centre has taken the initiative to solicit public feedback on proposed guidelines designed to prevent and regulate online dark patterns. These guidelines, unveiled by the Department of Consumer Affairs, spotlighted the deceptive strategies known as dark patterns employed by online platforms to the detriment of consumers. These manipulative tactics often coerce users into unintended actions, such as making purchases they did not intend to or disclosing personal information unknowingly.
Identifying the Dark Patterns
Under the proposed guidelines, approximately ten dark patterns have been identified and defined as follows:
1. False Urgency: This practice involves falsely creating a sense of urgency or scarcity to mislead users into making immediate purchases or taking immediate actions, often resulting in unintended purchases.
2. Basket Sneaking: It entails adding extra items like products, services, or charity donations during checkout without the user's consent, leading to a higher total amount payable.
3. Confirm Shaming: The term refers to using phrases, videos, audio, or other means to evoke fear, shame, ridicule, or guilt in users' minds, nudging them into actions that benefit the platform, such as purchasing products or continuing subscriptions.
4. Forced Action: This dark pattern involves forcing users to buy additional goods or subscribe to unrelated services as a prerequisite for purchasing or subscribing to the originally intended product or service.
5. Subscription Trap: A practice that makes canceling a paid subscription exceedingly complex or impossible, among other similar tactics.
6. Interface Interference: Manipulating the user interface to highlight specific information while obscuring relevant details, misdirecting users from their intended actions.
7. Bait and Switch: It refers to advertising a specific outcome based on user actions but deceptively delivering an alternate result.
8. Drip Pricing: A practice where elements of prices are concealed or revealed surreptitiously within the user experience, among other similar tactics.
9. Disguised Advertisement: This pattern involves posing and masking advertisements as different types of content, such as user-generated content or news articles, or using false advertisements.
10. Nagging: Overwhelming users with requests, information, options, or interruptions unrelated to their intended purchase, disrupting the intended transaction.
Public Consultation
The Department of Consumer Affairs has launched an extensive public consultation process, welcoming comments and suggestions from concerned citizens, experts, and stakeholders. This opportunity for public input will remain open until October 5, 2023.
Global Recognition
It's worth noting that online dark patterns are already defined and addressed under the EU's Digital Services Act, California's Privacy Rights Act, and the OECD Committee on Consumer Policy. Previous actions by authorities, such as the Norwegian Consumer Authority's action against Amazon and the United States' intervention with Fortnite, underscore the global significance of combating these deceptive practices to protect consumers' rights and interests.