India, June 4 -- The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of Rs.5 Lakh on edtech major PhysicsWallah for using dark patterns on its platform, including a pre-selected donation option through which it collected about Rs.2.47 Cr from more than 21.36 Lakh users.

In an order dated June 1, the consumer watchdog said PhysicsWallah (PW's) website and app deployed practices that violated the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the E-Commerce Rules, 2020, and the government's dark pattern guidelines.

The case was initiated suo motu by the regulator after it examined PW's platform and identified concerns around its checkout process and access to courses advertised as free.

According to the order, PW automatically added a...