NEW DELHI — The Central Consumer Protection Authority has imposed a Rs 5 lakh penalty on PhysicsWallah Ltd. for using dark pattern practices on its platform that allegedly misled consumers and influenced their decision-making.
The consumer watchdog also imposed a Rs 1 lakh penalty on McAfee Software India Private Ltd. for using misleading subscription renewal practices on its digital platform.
“PhysicsWallah has been fined Rs 5 lakh, while McAfee has been fined Rs 1 lakh. Both companies have been directed to remove such practices from their platforms and ensure that consumers are able to make informed choices without pressure or manipulation,” the authority said.
The action was taken under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, and the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023.
The CCPA, headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare and Commissioner Anupam Mishra, said both companies have been directed to discontinue the practices and ensure consumers can make informed choices without manipulation or pressure.
In the case of PhysicsWallah, the authority took suo motu cognizance of certain practices on the edtech platform and found that consumers were being influenced through interface designs that affected their ability to make free and informed decisions.
According to the CCPA, a Rs 10 donation to the PW Foundation was automatically preselected during checkout and added to the total payable amount without explicit consent from consumers.
The authority also found that users were shown emotional messages related to children’s education, health care and marriages, encouraging them not to remove the donation option.
The CCPA said courses advertised as “free” could be accessed only after users shared personal information, including mobile numbers and email addresses.
During its review, the authority found that the content available across user accounts remained identical, suggesting that mandatory collection of personal data was not necessary to access the courses.
The CCPA identified multiple dark patterns on the platform, including “basket sneaking” through the automatic addition of donations, “confirm shaming” through emotional messaging and “forced action” by requiring users to share personal information before accessing free content. (Source: IANS)
