50% of descriptive patterns in ads involve manipulation of words and copy: Ashish Agarwal, Nasscom

Agarwal was speaking at a panel discussion about conscious patterns followed by the launch of a study on deceptive advertising by ASCI.

Ashish Agarwal, VP and head of public policy at Nasscom, a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group, revealed that 50% of descriptive patterns in advertising involve the manipulation of words and copy.

Speaking at the unveiling of a report titled Conscious Patterns, Agarwal emphasised the significant role copy plays in deceptive advertising practices.

Rohit Kumar Singh, former secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, also highlighted cab aggregators as major offenders in the realm of dark patterns in advertising. 

"More troubling are subscription traps, as companies increasingly tie usage directly to revenue. Indians have a mixed attitude towards privacy, with a key issue being that websites should not be allowed to share data," Singh stated. 

He further mentioned the thin line between marketing and unfair trading practices.

The Conscious Patterns study, conducted by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy in collaboration with design firm Parallel HQ, analysed 12,000 screens from 53 leading apps available in India. 

The study identified 12 distinct deceptive patterns, including privacy deception, interface interference, drip pricing, and false urgency.

Dark patterns are deceptive UI/UX practices designed to mislead or trick users into actions they did not intend or want to take.

The report emphasises the significant impact these patterns have on user autonomy and informed decision-making, noting that the apps studied have been downloaded over 2,100 crore times.

Health tech remains the top sector for high deceptive patterns per app, followed by travel booking and e-commerce. 

Key findings from the report include:

• Privacy deception was the most prevalent pattern, observed in 79% of the apps, followed by interface interference (45%), drip pricing (43%), and false urgency (32%)

• Four deceptive patterns accounted for 78% of the total occurrences: privacy deception (24%), drip pricing (19%), interface interference (18%), and false urgency (17%)

• Over 80% of apps exhibited deceptive patterns in the settings/profile section

• All e-commerce apps studied made it difficult for users to delete their accounts

• Four out of five health-tech apps used time-based pressure (false urgency) to rush users into making decisions

The report underscores the urgent need for more ethical app development practices. In June 2023, ASCI released guidelines on deceptive patterns used in advertising, and in November 2023, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) issued guidelines identifying 13 deceptive patterns.