Article

From Trickery to Transparency: India's New Guidelines on Dark Patterns

Ayushi Srivastava and Manu Jalaj · Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy Free Beginner India

A plain explainer, published on the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy's blog, of the Central Consumer Protection Authority's 2023 dark-pattern guidelines and who they cover.

  • The guidelines cover platforms, advertisers and sellers offering goods or services in India
  • They list specified patterns such as false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, subscription traps and drip pricing
  • The guidelines do not set fixed penalty amounts; enforcement runs through the Consumer Protection Act
Open on vidhilegalpolicy.in ↗

The question it answers

  1. Which checkout tricks count as dark patterns under India's consumer protection rules?

Read with it

  1. A September 2026 review by lawyers at Lex Consult of the dark-pattern cases the Central Consumer Protection Authority has acted... Bar & Bench Article From nudge to notice: What India's dark pattern orders mean for digital business Naresh Pareek, Abhishek Nair and Shravan Kalluri
  2. Storyboard18's June 2025 report on the consumer authority's advisory asking e-commerce platforms to audit their own interfaces... Storyboard18 Article CCPA warns e-comm firms over 'dark patterns'; self-audit within 3 months Storyboard18
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