Zepto, BookMyShow, SpiceJet penalised: What are the 13 'dark patterns' for which digital platforms can be sued? The Central Consumer Protection Authority has initiated a major crackdown on digital platforms employing deceptive 'dark patterns' to influence consumer choices Published: August 06, 2026 11:53 AM IST Highlights. * The crackdown is based on the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns 2023 * The move is aimed at protecting consumers from deceptive design techniques and unfair trade practices online * Companies like Zepto, Physics Wallah, FirstCry, SpiceJet, PharmaEasy, and McAfee received fines for practices such as hidden fees, misleading discounts, and manipulative donation requests The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) conducted a broad crackdown on nine digital platforms for influencing consumer choices through deceptive practices. Some of these companies were penalised, including Zepto, Physics Wallah, FirstCry, SpiceJet, PharmaEasy, McAfee and Anuj Jindal. Zepto was penalised Rs 7 lakh for adding handling charges and membership fees to the basket after displaying discounted rates for individual products. Physics Wallah, the digital education platform, was charged Rs 5 lakh for pre-selecting a Rs 10 donation to its PW Foundation and adding persuasive messaging to induce guilt into retaining the pre-selected donation amount. The CCPA also notified the flight service, IndiGo, for using a manipulative opt-out button which said: "No, I will take the risk." Following the regulator's intervention, IndiGo changed the prompt to neutral messaging: "No, I will not add to the trip," narrowly escaping the penalty. These practices come under a longer list of 13 practices under the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns 2023. It aims to protect consumers from making decisions based on deceptive design techniques on digital platforms. While these may seem like marketing techniques, if an app uses the following techniques to drive consumer demand, it can be sued. False urgency: Creating a scarcity of products or resetting countdown timers to rush a purchase. SpiceJet was penalised Rs 1 lakh for using fake countdown timers during flight ticket sales to induce panic and rush users into checking out. Basket sneaking: Adding products, services, or charitable donations at checkout without the consent of the user, such that the payable total amount is more than the price of the products chosen. BookMyShow was ordered to remove a pre-ticked Rs 1 to 2 contribution to its charity initiative that auto-added to the ticket total. Confirm Shaming: Inducing guilt, shame, fear or ridicule, and emotionally manipulating the user to purchase a product, service or add a subscription from the platform. Indigo was warned of deploying this technique. Forced Action: Compelling users to buy extra goods or share personal data to complete an unrelated transaction. Physics Wallah forced students to provide personal information to access courses that were advertised as entirely free. Subscription Trap: Hiding cancellation buttons or intentionally complicating the opt-out process for a subscription. McAfee forced users through a complex loop of links just to cancel an auto-renewing software subscription. Interface Interference: Designing layouts to visually highlight profitable actions. Bait and Switch: Advertising a lower price, but delivering a more expensive result once the transaction starts. For example, a cab ride is priced at 150 initially, but changes to 280 once the booking is confirmed. Drip Pricing: Hiding mandatory components of the final price and revealing them only on the very last payment screen. FirstCry was penalised Rs 2 lakh for advertising product discounts on its storefront, but adding GST charges at the last payment page that cancel out most of the discount. Disguised Advertisements: Styling a paid ad or video to look identical to organic media coverage. Nagging: Bombarding users with continuous repetitive pop-ups to change their choice. For example, if an app repeatedly pops up texts saying "Switch on notifications" even after the user clicked "no". Trick Questions: Using confusing, misaligned phrasing to get accidental consumer consent. If a checkbox text says "uncheck this box if you do not wish to opt out of receiving daily marketing updates", it confuses the user about whether checking it helps or hurts privacy. SaaS Billing: Charging recurring fees on a user's credit card without sending a clear notification prior to the payment. If Spotify or Netflix does not send an auto-payment notification for the user's subscription, it can be sued under SaaS Billing. Rogue Malware: Using hyperlinks or fake "Download Now" buttons to trick you into downloading randomware or malware. Free movie-streaming websites that fake a "play video" button to open new tabs that download harmful files onto your device. Disclaimer: Comments posted here are the sole responsibility of the user and do not reflect the views of THE WEEK. Obscene or offensive remarks against any person, religion, community or nation are punishable under IT rules and may invite legal action.

Kily funding: agentic AI startup raises ₹30 crore led by Sorin Investments. By Tanu August 4, 2026 4 Mins Read Enterprise AI startup Kily has raised ₹30 crore (around $3.1 million) in a funding round led by Sorin Investments, with participation from Razorpay and Wyser Capital. The fresh investment will help the company accelerate product development, strengthen its enterprise AI platform and expand its presence among consumer brands across India. The funding comes as investor interest in agentic AI startups continues to grow, with businesses increasingly adopting AI-powered automation to improve operational efficiency across digital commerce channels. Fresh Capital to expand AI platform and market reach. According to the company, the newly raised funds will primarily be used to enhance its product capabilities, scale go-to-market operations and drive wider adoption of its AI platform among consumer brands. Founded in 2025 by Sankalp Mehrotra, Anurag Singh and Sharad Chitlangia, Kily is building an agentic AI platform that enables brands and sellers to automate decision-making across e-commerce and quick commerce marketplaces. The startup focuses on helping businesses reduce manual intervention in commerce operations by deploying AI agents capable of analysing marketplace data, identifying opportunities and executing operational decisions. As digital commerce continues to expand rapidly in India, companies are increasingly seeking AI solutions that can improve speed, efficiency and business performance without relying on labour-intensive workflows. AI agents automate marketplace operations. Kily's platform combines marketplace intelligence with each brand's commercial objectives to automate several operational functions. Its AI agents assist businesses in managing product visibility, advertising campaigns, pricing strategies, inventory planning and marketplace operations across multiple online platforms. Rather than relying on spreadsheets, dashboards and manual reporting, the platform continuously processes business data and marketplace signals to recommend or execute operational actions automatically. The company believes this AI-first approach allows brands to respond more quickly to changing market conditions while improving operational accuracy and efficiency. Supports leading e-commerce and quick commerce platforms. Kily currently integrates with several of India's largest online commerce platforms, including Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart. The startup enables brands to manage operations across these marketplaces through a single AI-powered interface, reducing the need to monitor multiple seller dashboards separately. Since launching its platform, Kily has worked with consumer brands including ITC, demonstrating early enterprise adoption of its AI-driven commerce management technology. With quick commerce becoming an increasingly important sales channel for consumer goods companies, AI-powered automation is emerging as a key competitive advantage for brands managing multiple digital storefronts simultaneously. Rising demand fuels agentic AI innovation. The Kily funding round reflects growing investor confidence in agentic AI, a segment focused on AI systems capable of making autonomous decisions and executing complex workflows with minimal human intervention. Unlike traditional automation software that follows predefined rules, agentic AI platforms can continuously analyse changing business conditions, adapt recommendations and complete tasks across multiple systems. Industry analysts expect enterprise adoption of AI agents to accelerate as businesses seek to improve productivity, optimise inventory management and reduce operational costs. The latest funding will allow Kily to continue expanding its AI capabilities while supporting a larger customer base across India's consumer goods ecosystem. Investors back India's Enterprise AI opportunity. The participation of Sorin Investments, Razorpay and Wyser Capital highlights increasing investor interest in enterprise AI startups building solutions for digital commerce. India's startup ecosystem has witnessed a surge in funding for artificial intelligence companies over the past year, particularly those developing AI tools for enterprise productivity, customer engagement and business automation. As competition among consumer brands intensifies across e-commerce and quick commerce platforms, technologies that improve operational efficiency are expected to remain a priority for businesses seeking sustainable growth. With the new funding, Kily plans to strengthen its technology stack, expand enterprise deployments and further establish itself in India's rapidly evolving enterprise AI market.