Part 2: Exploitative strategies

There are lots of different ways you can consider the underlying psychology and principles behind deceptive patterns. A good starting point is to think of them as the result of an exploitative business strategy. In other words, instead of a business thinking of its users as partners who should be cooperated with to reach mutual success (‘Their success is our success’), the business thinks of its users as a commodity to be exploited (‘Their weakness is our opportunity’). Another aspect of the exploitative mindset is the business’s attitude towards law: rather than seeing it as a system to be respected, the law might be seen as a game to be played, where loopholes and grey areas can be identified and exploited for profit.

If we look at it in a simplistic way, exploitative strategies are often going to be more effective than cooperative strategies because they sidestep the need to let users make an informed choice. It’s a bit like wondering whether a fishing net is going to be more effective than just asking fish to jump into your boat. The fishing net is a trap, similar to a deceptive pattern. If you impede a user’s ability to make an informed choice, or if you hinder their decision-making by hiding facts or by giving misleading information, then you effectively capture or lock in the user against their will (though they may not realise it at the time owing to a lack of clearly stated information).

Generally, businesses do not admit to themselves that they are using exploitative strategies. If a business focuses on growth and measured outcomes, it can slip into an exploitative mindset without realising it. Euphemisms are also very...