The financial authorities will move to regulate "dark patterns (online bait-and-switch tactics)" that deceive consumers in online financial transactions.
The Financial Supervisory Service said on the 24th that it plans to implement "dark pattern guidelines" starting in April next year to prohibit businesses from exploiting the limited screens of mobile phones or computers during the sale of financial products to induce consumers to make irrational decisions.
The current Financial Consumer Protection Act also regulates online transactions, but there have been criticisms that it is limited in fully covering the sophisticated tactics that exploit the peculiarities of the digital environment. The dark pattern regulations in the existing Electronic Commerce Act are also based on general commerce standards, creating a problem of not sufficiently reflecting the specific nature of selling financial products.
In response, the authorities decided to specify concrete regulatory acts that reflect the unique aspects of selling financial products. Dark patterns are categorized into four groups — misleading, obstructive, pressuring, and inducement to misappropriate — and are classified into 15 detailed types.
Misleading refers to actions that cause confusion through false information or screen layouts that differ from ordinary expectations (five types); obstructive refers to actions that require excessive time and effort to collect information (four types); pressuring refers to actions that compel certain behavior through psychological pressure (five types); inducement to misappropriate refers to actions that prompt unexpected expenditure through interface manipulation (one type).
To implement the guidelines prepared this time, financial companies will carry out IT development and internal rule maintenance for about three months. Initially, authorities will encourage voluntary compliance through self-inspection, but the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will provide guidance and supervision if necessary. The authorities plan to evaluate compliance going forward and consider the need for legislation.