Access Your Data... If You Can: An Analysis of Dark Patterns Against the Right of Access on Popular Websites
February 21, 2025
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Alexander Löbel, René Schäfer, Hanna Püschel, Esra Güney, Ulrike Meyer
This paper investigates how popular online service providers handle data subject access requests under GDPR, focusing on whether they use strategies to impede these requests. An analysis of 166 websites reveals 238 instances of dark patterns hindering access requests on 68% of the sites examined.