98% of Indian apps use deceptive or dark patterns: Report
Healthtech apps are the worst when it comes to creating false urgency
Deceptive design practices (also known as dark patterns), used by businesses to manipulate users into unintended actions. These patterns prioritise business interests over user autonomy, potentially leading to financial losses or compromising users' online privacy and security
A report by ASCI (Advertising standards council of India) reveals that almost 98% of top Indian apps use deceptive / dark patterns to lure users to perform 'certain' actions.
Here are the big ideas from the report
And the top dark pattern promoters are?
9/12 Deceptive Patterns were observed in Travel Booking Industry, followed by Delivery & Logistics (8/12)
Privacy Deception was observed in 79% of the apps studied
Highest instances of Deceptive Patterns were observed in Purchasing/ Subscribing/Booking flow
Most apps made it difficult for users to delete their account (Difficult Deletion)
4/5 Health-tech Apps relied on Time based Pressure (False Urgency) to rush users into decision
Delivery apps: 4X prevalence of Basket Sneaking compared to other industries
100%: Travel Booking of instances of Confirm Shaming were observed in Travel Booking apps
>80% of Apps contained a Deceptive Pattern in the Settings/Profile
Read the ASCI report.