With the proliferation of online platforms, there has been a paradigmatic shift in the character of interactions between consumers and the market, which has become more convenient and accessible. However, the shift has also presented problems when it comes to the agency of consumers, with instances of manipulative design coming to the fore. The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection recognise consumer protection as a contributor to a fair, efficient, and ethical market. The Guidelines consider consumer trust to be a pillar of sustainable commerce and underline the value of informed choice, the safeguarding of economic interests, the existence of redressal mechanisms and ethical business behaviour. These values are particularly applicable to digital markets, where autonomy is undermined by information asymmetry and design-based manipulation. The Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, published by the Central Consumer Protection Authority as part of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, can be viewed as a positive move towards regulation that does not view consumer protection as a constraint on innovation but as a condition for trust, efficiency, and sustainable digital development.
Definitional clarity is one of the biggest contributions of the GPRDP. By stating precisely what a dark pattern is, namely, a set of deceptive user interface or user experience practices that diminishes consumer autonomy, the GPRDP brought clarity to platforms, advertisers, and sellers. Explicit rules reduce uncertainty regarding compliance and businesses can design interfaces with confidence and predictability. The wide range of the GPRDP directions to platforms, advertisers, and sellers, based on the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, makes competition even. Once all market players are subjected to equal levels of transparency and fairness, competition is based not on manipulative design but on the actual value creation, innovation, and quality of service.
The GPRDP proactively encourage ethical and user-focused design by forbidding certain manipulative techniques (false urgency, basket sneaking, subscription bait, interface interference, and so on). This does not mean dismissal of behavioural design in totality. Instead, it encourages nudging that is responsible and contributes to aligning the consumer’s choices with his or her true preferences rather than weakening them. Product design requirements force corporations to design interfaces that are easy to use and more intuitive. In the long term, such practices lead to user satisfaction, less churn and greater brand loyalty, the end result of which is better business performance.
Digital markets trade in trust. When consumers feel exploited, they will lose faith and move away as well as become suspicious and unwilling to embrace new technologies. This can be mended by imposing the GPRDP and making consumer autonomy a regulatory priority. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is prospective in nature since it provides a definition of unfair trade practices in Section 2(47). This is one of the pillars of consumer welfare since changing business trends, especially in online markets, are not out of place with fairness, transparency, and informed decision-making. The GPRDP make the withdrawal of consent as easy as the granting of consent, specifically when it comes to subscriptions and data sharing. This complies with the requirements of The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and is an indication of a well-integrated regulation. The success of consumers is also demonstrated by the fact that the National Consumer Helpline, which acts as an important pre-litigation grievance redressal mechanism, has, between April 2025 and January 2026, aided refunds totalling Rs 52 crore, proving its ability to provide justice in a timely and accessible manner. The highest number of grievances was recorded in the e-commerce industry, where 47,743 grievances led to refunds amounting to about Rs 36 crore, including in cases related to dark patterns.
In the law-and-economics continuum, the GPRDP deal with a classical market failure of information asymmetry. Dark patterns take advantage of cognitive biases, which lead people to make choices that are not the most useful to them, such as buying a product that they do not want, spending more, losing privacy without knowing it and so on. Such market distortions result in inefficient market outcomes where consumer welfare is appropriated without necessarily enhancing the quality of products or prices. The GPRDP help in curbing such practices and make markets operate more efficiently. Customers base their decisions on their preferences, and companies compete based on their merit and not on manipulation.
The digital economy in India has a high and increasing number of first-time internet users. The country commemorated 10 years of the Digital India journey on July 1, 2025, with internet connections increasing 285.53% — from 25.15 crore in March 2014 to 96.96 crore in June 2024. For such consumers, malpractices by digital platforms can erode trust. The GPRDP guard such users against misguided practices. The right to trade and carry out business is not an absolute right, even though it is mandated by the Constitution under Article 19. The right to life under Article 21, though, has been interpreted by the courts to encompass dignity, autonomy, informed choice and the right to a life without exploitation. These substantive aspects of life and self-freedom are directly harmed by manipulative design practices to distort, extract undetected costs, or infringe privacy in the digital marketplace.
India is working towards creating a market environment where trust, equity and responsibility lead to development by bringing together statutory protection with constitutional values and global practices. Timely redressal enhances market discipline and consumer confidence, and well-established regulatory standards promote creative, ethical and long-term sustainability in business.
Ashok Ramappa Patil is vice-chancellor, and Gaurav Kumar Mandal and Sumit Kumar Singh are research assistant and student, respectively, at National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi