Background
The Central Consumer Protection Authority has notified the
Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023
(Guidelines) to prevent and regulate 'dark patterns'
deployed by online platforms, advertisers and sellers. The
Guidelines are issued under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (Act)
and build on the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading
Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022
(Misleading Advertisements Guidelines), which were also issued
under the Act and notified in June 2022.
The Misleading Advertisements Guidelines, among other things,
had prescribed: (a) conditions for an advertisement to be
considered to be valid and not misleading; (b) conditions for an
advertisement to adhere to, such that it is not considered as bait
advertisement; (c) prohibition on surrogate advertising; (d)
guidelines to be followed when an advertisement provides that
something is free or without charge; (e) guidelines
