E-commerce platforms must comply with guidelines on 'dark patterns': Food Minister Pralhad Joshi
Pralhad Joshi
on Wednesday asked all major e-commerce platform to follow the government's guidelines on '
dark patterns
', else actions will be taken to protect consumers' interest.
The minister said the e-commerce players have also been told to conduct
internal audits
to examine the presence of 'dark patterns', defined as deceptive user interface designs that mislead or manipulate consumers into making unintended choices.
E-commerce players need to submit an audit report to the department of consumer affairs. He said a joint working group will also be set up for effective implementation of the guidelines and curb this unfair trade practice.
In November 2023, the
Central Consumer Protection Authority
(CCPA), under the
Consumer Protection
Act, 2019, issued Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, to curb 'dark patterns' on digital and offline platforms.
On Wednesday, Joshi held discussions with stakeholders to discuss consumer concerns over 'dark patterns' and explore more effective solutions to tackle the issue.
"Representatives of More than 50 e-commerce players participated in the meeting which was organised to sensitise all stakeholders. We have asked for full compliance with dark pattern guidelines," Joshi told reporters.
He said the government has identified 13 dark patterns. These are False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming, Forced action, Subscription trap, Interface interference, Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised advertisement, Nagging, Trick question, Saas Billing, and Rogue Malwares.
"Consumer interest is paramount," Joshi said, adding that the e-commerce players have promised to abide by these guidelines.
The minister stressed on the need that
digital marketplaces
are governed by fairness, transparency, and accountability.
In case they do not follow guidelines, action will be taken as per the law, Joshi said.
On 'advance tipping' by cab aggregators, the minister said the notices have been given to ride-hailing operators.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare said the CCPA has issued 11 notices under dark patterns. Overall, she said more than 400 notices have been issued for
unfair trade practices
.
She said the government will also look into dark patterns by quick-commerce platforms.
The secretary asserted that the CCPA will take actions against unfair trade practices in any sector after proper investigation.
According to the guidelines, dark patterns have been defined as any practice or deceptive design pattern using user interface or user experience interactions on any platform that is designed to mislead or trick users to do something they originally did not intend or want to do, by subverting or impairing the consumer autonomy, decision making or choice.
All major e-commerce platforms, working in the food, travel, cosmetics, pharmacy, retail, clothing and electronics sectors participated in the meeting.
Some of the key stakeholders present in the meeting were Amazon, Flipkart, 1mg.com, Apple, BigBasket, Meesho, Meta, MakeMyTrip,
Paytm
, Ola, Reliance Retail Limited,
Swiggy
,
Zomato
, Yatra, Uber, Tata, EaseMyTrip, Clear Trip,
IndiaMart
, IndiGo Airlines, ixigo, JUSTDIAL, Medika Bazaar, Netmeds, ONDC,
Thomas Cook
, and WhatsApp.
Key industry organisations, including Voluntary Consumer Organizations (VCOs) and leading National Law Universities (NLUs), also participated in this meeting. PTI
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
13 hours ago
- Time of India
Over 7,000-page chargesheet filed in Mumbai's Mithi river desilting scam
Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of city police, probing the Rs 65.5-crore Mithi River desilting scam case, filed an over 7,000-page chargesheet in the court on Friday against two arrested accused. Eleven others named as accused in the FIR, including several BMC officials, have not been arrested yet. Two of the 13 named in the FIR lodged on May 6—Ketan Kadam (50) and Jay Joshi (49)—were arrested the same day. Investigators filed the charge sheet against Kadam and Joshi. While Joshi is out on bail, Kadam is still in the jail, said police. Kadam is associated with Ketan Vodar India LLP, while Jay Joshi is a director at Virgo Specialties Pvt Ltd. The court, where the chargesheet was filed, is yet to take cognisance of it. Both Kadam and Joshi are accused of collectively taking Rs 9 crore as commission. They acted as middlemen to secure the Mithi River cleaning tender for a contractor. The duo allegedly conspired with the accused BMC officials to ensure their contractor got the contract. On March 20 last year, the EOW constituted a special investigation team (SIT) led by joint commissioner Nishith Mishra to probe the alleged scam. There were allegations that the accused persons, contractors, middlemen, and several BMC officials connived and caused a loss of Rs 65.5 crore to the civic body by not desilting the Mithi River, submitting fake bills, and getting them cleared. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai Police said Kadam signed rental agreements for silt pusher machines and multipurpose amphibious pontoon machines between the contractors and the company renting them. The machinery belonged to Matprop, a company that sold two machines to Virgo, said a police officer. While the machine cost around Rs 3.1 crore, the BMC officers named as accused allegedly changed the note sheet and asked the contractors to take it on rent. The contractors rented it for Rs 4 crore for two years. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Friendship Day wishes , messages and quotes !
Hans India
21 hours ago
- Hans India
Balancing Innovation with Security: Building Scalable Data Platforms That Protect Privacy
In the increasing dependence on cloud-native architectures, AI-powered insights, and real-time embodiments of decisions, enterprises are confronted with the dilemma of innovating quickly within the realm of data privacy. As the regulations such as HIPAA, CCPA, and GDPR become more stringent to the point of consumer trust resting on the responsible handling of data, enterprises are forced to rethink the way they build their platform. Privacy cannot be something that is given mere patronage in these days of late. Therefore, the central thought of data privacy has to be stitched together with architecture of innovation, blended seamlessly, and made to stand on scaling and the principle of absolute necessity. The guiding force behind this transformation is Srinivasa Kalyan, a data architect who has always seen this complex balancing act as an opportunity for growth and resilience. With 15 years of experience in building high-performing data platforms without compromising security, Kalyan has emerged as a go-to expert for enterprises struggling with fast changes at the nexus of compliance, innovation, and cloud architecture. 'The real innovation,' Kalyan tells, 'isn't in how fast you move it's in how safely and intelligently you move.' According to Reports Over the course of his career, Srinivasa has achieved several notable milestones. His certifications, including the SnowPro Advanced Architect and Azure Data Engineer Associate, are testaments to his technical depth in cloud platforms. More importantly, he has led transformative initiatives like secure Snowflake cloud migrations that seamlessly integrate privacy-preserving capabilities such as dynamic data masking, role-based access control, and audit automation. His work has not only enabled compliance at scale but also empowered organizations to innovate faster and more securely. Interestingly Srinivasa's contributions have led to measurable business impact. By implementing robust access control models and column-level encryption, he helped reduce the risk of sensitive data exposure by 50%. Through automation of audit and compliance workflows using tools like Snowflake Time Travel and data lineage tracking, he cut compliance preparation time by 60%. Additionally, his reusable ingestion templates and secure development environments improved development velocity by 40%. Perhaps most impressively, he rearchitected the platform to handle three times the user load without compromising on data privacy or system performance. His expertise spans multiple industry sectors where data sensitivity is paramount. For healthcare enterprises in Texas, Srinivasa helped design and build a HIPAA-compliant data platform that integrated real-time patient data with masked personally identifiable health information, maintaining audit readiness and scalability. In the financial services domain, he architected a data privacy hub that enabled banks to manage and share financial data across departments securely ensuring no personally identifiable information was leaked. In retail, he developed a consent-based customer data platform that filtered usage dynamically based on real-time consent inputs, integrating seamlessly with Snowflake Streams and external APIs. These contributions were not just conceptual but quantifiably impactful. He reduced compliance preparation time by 60% and cut the risk of data exposure by 50% through integrated masking and role-based access. Time to deploy secure data pipelines dropped by 35%, and post-architecture improvements enabled three times more users to be onboarded securely. His improvements to workload management increased support for concurrent secure workloads by 45%, reinforcing both scale and trust. Based on his vast expertise, Srinivasa shares thoughtful insights on the possible trajectory of future data security systems. He feels that the real innovation would be in smarter and safer usage of data, rather than merely making data pipelines faster. In his opinion, organizations thriving will have integrated security into their innovation processes from the very start, whereas the ones who look at it as a bolt-on feature will find it increasingly difficult to secure their scaling operations. He further observes the rise of context-aware security, where access privileges are dynamically set based on user behavior, location, and data sensitivity. Especially important in this day and age, Srinivasa is pushing for "privacy as a service," urging organizations to automate the privacy layers into their infrastructure, including encryption, enforcement of consent, and data masking. For teams operating in development, analytics, and compliance, he supports a unified, tiered access approach to governed datasets so as to promote collaboration without compromising on ethics or safety regarding data. Srinivasa Kalyan's work is a compelling case study in building platforms that are both resilient and revolutionary. His ability to marry compliance with innovation, privacy with performance, and governance with growth stands as a model for data leaders worldwide. In a digital age defined by both acceleration and accountability, his story offers a roadmap for how to move fast while still staying secure.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
BMC fines seven establishments for dumping illegal waste near Mithi river
MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued notices and fined seven establishments for illegally dumping waste near the Mithi river, particularly targeting bulk waste generators, who dispose of garbage in unauthorized locations. Mumbai, India. June 27, 2025: View of the polluted Mithi River in the BKC and Kurla area of Mumbai. The Mithi River flows through Salsette Island, which is part of the city of Mumbai. Mumbai, India. June 27, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo) (Raju Shinde) The BMC's inspections led them to one of the key violators, 'Tha Gaurav Caterers'. The civic body's L ward team caught them dumping large quantities of leftover food waste in garbage bins near the Mithi river at Sakinaka on the night of July 30. Civic officials then visited the caterer's office and penalised them for failing to maintain cleanliness on their premises and for improper disposal of hazardous waste. The caterers were also fined ₹10,000 under the BMC Cleanliness and Sanitation byelaws. Other violators in the area include two banks in Ghodbunder Road and Vikhroli, the Imtiaz Line depot, and housing societies in Marol, Kurla, Brahmanwadi. All violators were issued formal notices and fined as per established municipal regulations. These actions come as per instructions from the additional municipal commissioner (city) Dr Ashwini Joshi. Joshi has directed teams of the civic body to closely monitor such violations and take firm action against offenders. Regarding the violators, Joshi said, 'All those responsible have been fined accordingly.' Through such measures, the BMC aims to send a strong message to all commercial establishments and waste generators that irresponsible disposal practices will not be tolerated. Civic officials said that they plan to continue such vigilance and enforcement efforts to uphold public hygiene and environmental standards across the city. Since June 12, the BMC has fined seven establishments and collected ₹65,000 for similar violations involving the unauthorised transportation and disposal of waste. The crackdown comes after the BMC's commissioner and administrator, Bhushan Gagrani, emphasized the importance of maintaining a clean and beautiful city. Various sanitation initiatives are underway, and the BMC is particularly focused on controlling the behavior of bulk waste generators and contractors who illegally dump waste at night to avoid detection.
