How apps of travel, food and health tech companies dupe you

Health-tech apps had the highest number of deceptive practices that manipulate users to make unintended purchases, followed by travel booking and fintech apps, a study by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) showed.

Three deceptive patterns on average were found in each app in a recent study report. Over 12,000 screens from apps across nine industries were analysed.

`Dark patterns' of deception

The common ‘dark patterns’ include privacy deception, prevalent in 79% of the apps, along with interface interference and drip pricing. Interface interference highlights certain parts of the interface and hides others, misdirecting users into taking an action. In drip pricing, additional fees are introduced gradually through the purchase process, making the final price higher than originally quoted.

Almost every single app across categories in India – 52 of the 53 most popular apps – used deceptive design practices, or dark patterns, to influence users into making purchases.

The ASCI conducted the study titled 'Conscious Patterns' in collaboration with Bengaluru-based user interface design agency Parallel HQ. Nasscom, the association of software and services companies, also partnered to promote ethical standards in app design.

“Conscious patterns" refer to features in an app's user interface that are clear and honest, making it easy for users to understand what they are doing and avoid being tricked. The term contrasts with "dark patterns," which are deceptive tactics that can trick or coerce users into actions they might not intend.

Villainous apps of major companies

Top apps from across sectors including health tech, travel booking, fintech, e-commerce, streaming services, and gaming were covered in the study. It focused on delivery apps Swiggy, Zomato, Ola, and Uber; e-commerce apps BigBasket, Nykaa, Amazon, and Flipkart; streaming services Netflix and Prime Video, and most major travel booking, gaming, and health tech platforms.

Health-tech platforms including Tata 1mg were the most violative in terms of deceptive practices.

Edtech platforms Byju's and UpGrad were covered. In travel tech, companies like MakeMyTrip, Agoda, Booking.com, and EaseMyTrip were analysed.

Almost 80% of the apps manipulated users into unknowingly sharing more personal data than intended. About half the apps analysed highlighted only certain parts of the interface and hid others, misdirecting users into taking unintended actions. For instance, when the app asked users to "unlock for cashback" they signed up – without being aware – to receive marketing updates.

Tricking into paying more

Several apps showed additional fees gradually throughout the purchase process, making the final price higher than what was originally quoted. A third of the apps created a sense of artificial pressure, or urgency, based on time or stock availability, to manipulate users into making a rushed decision. Several apps added items like donations or tips to a user's shopping cart without their explicit consent.

“Deceptive patterns harm consumer trust and transparency in the digital ecosystem,” said Manisha Kapoor, CEO and secretary general of the ASCI. “The top 53 apps have been downloaded over 21 billion times. The consumer exposure to deceptive patterns across apps, websites, and other digital interfaces is mind-boggling. We urge organisations to follow conscious design principles that protect the consumer’s right to make an informed choice." The ASCI is a self-regulatory body of the advertising industry.

Rohit Kumar Singh, former secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, said that while consumers were more aware today, they were also more vulnerable to deception.

Consumers made smaller 

“When customers were going to corner stores or mom-and-pop shops, there was an inherent relationship between the seller and the buyer and if something went wrong, they could address it collectively. But with the advent of big stores, whether physical or digital, the whole power equation between the consumers and the seller has changed. Consumers have become smaller, and the sellers have become more powerful. The consumer is much, much more vulnerable,” he said.

The number of complaints of e-commerce, Mr Singh said, had grown from 8% to 52% in the past six years. A half of the complaints the government gets on national helplines today pertain to e-commerce companies.

Of the 12 deceptive patterns highlighted, nine were found in travel booking apps. Similar was the case of health tech and delivery and logistics apps. E-commerce platforms made it very difficult for users to delete their profiles.

                                                   (By arrangement with livemint.com)