Amazon faces 2 lawsuits in US over ‘dark patterns’ as India prepares guidelines

NEW DELHI: As the Indian government aims to curb the use of ‘dark patterns’ on e-commerce platforms, the US state of Arizona has filed two new lawsuits against Amazon, accusing the e-tailing giant of deceiving consumers with "dark patterns."

One of the lawsuits accuses the company of “engaging in deceptive business practices” by allegedly using “design tricks known as dark patterns to keep users from cancelling their Amazon Prime subscriptions.”

The other lawsuit, filed by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, accuses Amazon of “unfairly maintaining monopoly status by enforcing agreements with third-party sellers that restrict them from offering lower prices off of the platform than they do on Amazon,” The Verge reported on Thursday.

The US state of Arizona has asked the court to stop Amazon from “engaging in the allegedly deceptive and anticompetitive practices" and "award civil penalties and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.”

Amazon said in a statement that it was “surprised and disappointed by these cases.”

The company also defended Prime’s sign-up and cancellation processes, saying these are “clear and simple by design,” adding that the lawsuits would actually force it to “feature higher prices.”

The use of "dark patterns" by online platforms have created controversy in India as well.

These deceptive techniques mislead people into doing something they did not wish to do, such as paying for items or services they did not intend to buy.

The Indian government recently released draft guidelines to curb "dark patterns" used by big online platforms.

The Digital India Act is also equipped to regulate “dark patterns” on the internet through user safety provisions.