Advertising body norms target online deceptive design patterns

Amid proactive attempts by the government to curb the practice of deceptive design tricks or dark patterns, which is rampant on online platforms, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday released guidelines to tackle the issue of dark patterns in online advertising.

The guidelines, which will come into effect from September 1, cover advertising in digital media including e-commerce, food delivery apps and websites and aims to check the menace of disguised ads and ambiguous pricing, among others.

In order to make the pricing of listings of varied products and services on online platforms transparent for consumers, the norms require quoted prices in advertisements and e-commerce sites to specify non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers.