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ARTICLE · 25 AUGUST 2026

Grey In The Dark: Indian CCPA’s Dark Pattern Jurisprudence

Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA)
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India's consumer protection authority has begun actively penalizing companies for using manipulative interface designs, marking a decisive shift from advisory warnings to enforcement action. Recent cases against major platforms reveal how pre-selected checkboxes, guilt-inducing language, and misleading button labels are now being prosecuted as unfair trade practices.

IndiaConsumer Protection
Sharad Vadehra (Kan & Krishme)
Sharad Vadehra (Kan & Krishme)
Aakriti Vadehra (Kan & Krishme)
Aakriti Vadehra (Kan & Krishme)
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Introduction

Imagine, you're trying to cancel a software subscription. Instead of a simple "Cancel" button, you're given two choices: "Renew Now" or "Accept Risk." Not "No thanks." Not "Skip.”

This isn't hypothetical. It's what India’s Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) found when it fined McAfee ₹1 lakh (~USD 1000) in May 2026 for exactly this design. Twelve days later, it fined Ed-tech giant PhysicsWallah ₹5 lakh (USD 5,223) for a pre-ticked "donation" checkbox that had quietly collected ₹2.47 crore (USD 258,000) from over 21 lakh users - most of them students, many of them minors before anyone noticed it could be unchecked.

For years, dark patterns occupied a grey area between persuasive design and consumer manipulation. That ambiguity is now being tested in India, with the CCPA's penalty orders against PhysicsWallah and McAfee marking a shift from issuing regulatory guidance to actively enforcing it.

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