The convenience of marketing at the click of a mouse has drastically changed consumer behaviour. Online platforms and App-based e-commerce have provided consumers with a wider range of choices and ease of shopping by cutting travel time and the cost of visiting brick-and-mortar stores to try or test products. Digital technology has made it possible to buy products or avail services online and make payments online beyond market places in the home town or state. The comfort of new marketing habits is not without new challenges for consumer protection. The enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which replaced the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, is aimed at proving improved protection for consumers making purchases or transactions online. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 widened the scope of the definition of “consumer” to include persons who buy or avail of goods or services online or through electronic means. The Act also provides that “consumer rights” include the right to be protected against the marketing of goods, products, or services that are hazardous to life and property and the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, and price of goods, products, or services so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practises. Other consumer rights protected by the Act are: the right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods, products, or services at competitive prices; the right to be heard and to be assured that consumers interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums; the right to seek redressal against unfair trade practises, restrictive trade practises, or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers; and the right to consumer awareness. Information furnished by the Central Government in Parliament has revealed the vulnerability of consumers relying on online platforms and e-commerce due to a lack of awareness. The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) has recently noticed the emergence of unfair trade practises known as “dark patterns,” which involve using design and choice architecture to deceive, coerce, or influence consumers into making choices that are not in their best interests. This has pressed the alarm bell for online consumers in India. During an interactive consultation in Mumbai on June 13 with various stakeholders, including e-commerce companies and industry associations, the Department urged the e-commerce firms to refrain from indulging in any design or pattern in the online interfaces of their platform that may deceive or manipulate consumer choices and fall into the category of dark patterns. The solution to the problem that the government suggested to the e-commerce firms was to create a self-regulatory framework to end “dark patterns”. The solution will work only when there is a regulatory mechanism for prohibiting those firms from carrying on with e-commerce that is not part of the self-regulatory framework or mechanism. Unless consumers have easily accessible means of ascertaining if an e-commerce firm is affiliated with a self-regulatory body, they will continue to be duped by “dark patterns” of firms that are not affiliated with such a body. Consumers will look for a list of e-commerce firms affiliated with self-regulatory bodies only when they are aware of the modus operandi of “dark patterns” by dubious e-commerce firms. The government claims that the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020, under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, have already been notified to safeguard consumers from unfair trade practises in e-commerce, which outline the responsibilities of e-commerce entities and specify the liabilities of marketplace and inventory e-commerce entities, including provisions for customer grievance redressal. The establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is aimed at regulating matters relating to consumer rights violations, unfair trade practises, and false or misleading advertisements that harm the public and consumer interests. It also issued advisories to e-commerce companies to desist from manufacturing, selling, or listing products or services that are dangerous to the lives of consumers. From the consumers’ perspective, the CCPA issuing two safety notices cautioning consumers against buying goods that do not hold a valid ISI Mark and violate compulsory Bureau of Indian Standards, but a random survey among consumers who are not aware of the importance of such standardisation will reveal what percentage of consumers have heard, seen, or read these notices. Paying less for a good or service being one of the top shopping priorities for a large section of general buyers on online platforms, it becomes easier for dubious e-commerce firms to deceive, coerce, or influence such consumers with “dark patterns” into buying their products or availing of their services. The application of virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive marketing technology is allowing customers to browse and shop from a virtual store and extending e-commerce into a new marketing experience for consumers. The CCPA’s undertaking of measures to raise awareness among consumers against “dark patterns” and updating them on the self-regulatory framework of e-commerce firms is critical to protecting consumers’ interests.