The Central Consumer Protection Authority imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. which operates the ride-hailing platform Rapido, for misleading advertisements, unfair trade practices, unfair contract and dark patterns in the manner in which riders were prompted to pay more before their rides were confirmed, according to a release on Tuesday.
The action follows a sector-wide examination of cab and bike-taxi aggregator platforms operating in India undertaken by CCPA to examine practices relating to pre-ride tipping and dynamic pricing.
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During its examination of various platforms, CCPA found that the Rapido app displayed prompts such as “Higher the price, higher the chance of getting a ride” and “Captains aren't accepting at Rs 60. Try adding +10, +20, +30” while a rider's booking was still being processed.
CCPA found that Rapido's algorithm first quoted a fare to the rider and, after the rider booked at that fare, prompted the rider to pay more on the ground that Captains were not accepting the original price. CCPA held that this practice creates a false impression that a rider's chances of getting a ride quickly depend on paying an additional amount, at the precise stage when the rider has already committed to the booking and has limited scope to negotiate.
The practice was held to constitute “Confirm Shaming”, a dark pattern identified under the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, as it creates a sense of urgency and fear of losing the ride if the consumer does not agree to pay more.
CCPA also examined Rapido's “Set your price” slider and found that it was colour-coded to influence the rider's pricing decision.
Raising the price displayed “higher chance of getting a ride” in green. Lowering the price triggered a red or orange warning.
The slider provided more room to increase the price than to decrease it.
The consumer protection body held that this amounted to a second dark pattern “Interface Interference” as the design of the interface visually steered consumers towards paying a higher amount, independent of the accompanying text.
The action against Rapido forms part of CCPA's wider scrutiny of advance-tip and dark-pattern practices across ride-hailing and bike-taxi platforms. CCPA had earlier issued notices to platforms including Uber, Ola, Rapido and Namma Yatri, directing them to comply with the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 and submit self-declarations regarding compliance. CCPA's examination of Uber and Ola in this regard is currently ongoing.
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The consumer protection authority also encouraged consumers to reach out to it with their relevan grievances.
"Consumers having complaints or grievances relating to misleading advertisements, unfair trade practices or dark patterns may register their grievances through the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) at 1915 or write to CCPA at com-ccpa[at]gov[dot]in," the release said.
(This is a developling story.)
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