Alerts & Updates 1st Dec 2025
ELP’s Data Privacy team is launching a twice-weekly series unpacking key developments in data protection, digital regulation, and emerging compliance obligations. We begin with our first primer on the dual regulation of dark patterns in India.
With the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) slated to become fully operational over the next 18 months and the Central Consumer Protection Authority’s (CCPA) Dark Patterns Guidelines already in force, the same manipulative design choice may now attract scrutiny and penalties under both consumer protection and data protection laws.
In this primer, we break down:
• What qualifies as a dark pattern;
• How dark patterns are currently regulated under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019;
• Why many dark patterns are likely to breach the DPDP Act; and
• What businesses should start doing now to stay compliant.
As enforcement activity accelerates, with several platforms already receiving notices from the CCPA, this is an opportune moment for businesses to revisit their design choices and place transparency and genuine user autonomy at the centre of their digital interfaces.
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