The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has taken action against nine digital platforms, including IndiGo, Zepto, FirstCry, Physics Wallah and SpiceJet, for using “dark patterns” that influence consumer decisions through misleading interface designs.
The government informed the Rajya Sabha that it has strengthened measures to prevent unfair digital trade practices and protect consumers from deceptive online experiences.
Under the Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns Guidelines, 2023, the CCPA has identified 13 types of manipulative design practices, including false urgency, basket sneaking, subscription traps, hidden charges, confirm shaming, drip pricing and trick questions.
Following an advisory issued in June 2025, the regulator asked e-commerce and digital platforms to conduct self-audits to identify and remove such practices. Since then, the CCPA has collected around ₹20 lakh in penalties from platforms found violating the guidelines.
Quick commerce platform Zepto Marketplace was fined ₹7 lakh after the regulator found that products were initially shown at lower prices, but additional handling charges and membership fees were added later. The CCPA classified these practices as drip pricing and basket sneaking. The company has since discontinued the identified dark patterns.
The regulator also imposed a ₹5 lakh penalty on digital education platform Physics Wallah after finding that a ₹10 donation to its PW Foundation was automatically selected during transactions. The CCPA said the platform used emotionally persuasive messages to encourage users to keep the pre-selected donation option. It also raised concerns over free courses requiring users to share personal information before accessing content. The company later removed the practices and paid the penalty.
IndiGo faced action over a confirm shaming practice on its mobile application, where users were presented with a discouraging opt-out message. Following the CCPA’s intervention, the airline replaced the earlier wording “No I will take risk” with a more neutral option, “No, I will not add to the trip”.
Movie ticketing platform BookMyShow was directed to remove a pre-selected ₹1 donation option to its charitable initiative BookASmile after the regulator flagged it as basket sneaking.
The CCPA also penalised FirstCry with ₹2 lakh, PharmaEasy with ₹1 lakh, McAfee with ₹1 lakh, SpiceJet with ₹1 lakh and coaching platform Anuj Jindal with ₹3 lakh. The companies were directed to stop practices involving hidden charges, forced subscriptions, misleading countdown timers and confusing renewal prompts.
The government said these actions are part of wider efforts to make digital marketplaces more transparent and ensure consumers can make informed choices online.
