E-commerce marketing · Industry brief

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) and Open App Markets Act (OAMA) have been reintroduced in Congress with bipartisan support from Senators Grassley and Klobuchar. AICOA would prohibit dominant platforms like Amazon, Google, and Apple from unfairly favoring their own services and engaging in self-preferencing, tying services, and misusing business data, though the government must prove material harm to competition in federal court and the bills include affirmative defenses for privacy and security. OAMA would enable competitive app stores and allow developers to use their own billing systems. The bills follow federal antitrust enforcement actions against Apple and Amazon for monopolization and wins against Google in search and advertising technology cases. Big Tech has warned the legislation would degrade popular services, but evidence cited includes Amazon using confidential vendor data to pressure competitors into raising prices, Apple's 30% app store cut versus typical 10% credit card processing fees, and Google's monopoly rulings on search, advertising technology, and Android app distribution.

Dark patterns in Indian e-commerce have become the focus of regulatory enforcement. The Central Consumer Protection Authority released specialized Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns in 2023, expanding beyond the general "unfair trade practice" framework established in the Consumer Protection Act 2019. The guidelines specifically address deceptive interface tactics including false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm-shaming, forced consumer action, and subscription traps. However, enforcement gaps remain: a private right of action is absent, definitional ambiguities persist, and jurisdictional limitations restrict enforcement capacity (Canadian Journal of Marketing Research, 2026).