Hall of shame

The Tfl App's Privacy Settings offer a ‘Accept All’ but no ‘Reject All' option. For users not wanting to Accept All the option is to 'Manage Cookies' which then leads the requirement to 'Manage Partners’. Users may find this time-consuming and non-transparent.

Now TV takes subscribers wishing to cancel through multiple screens asking them if they're sure they wish to cancel before letting them select 'I still want to cancel'.

You've seen them before: the UX ploys designed to trick you into spending money, or make it nearly impossible to unsubscribe. Here's what to look out for.

"While nutrition and food labelling is in the news, here's a thread about the nutrition information labels which are required to appear on prepacked food in the UK, and how they can be manipulated with increasingly absurd definitions of a "serving". Examples follow..."

I’m still not sure how to unsubscribe from care.com

A class action lawsuit was filed in June 2020, alleging that the New York Times has been violating California law by automatically renewing consumers’ subscriptions without proper authorization and making it “exceedingly difficult” to cancel existing subscriptions.

When a subscriber shares a link to an Airtable document, they are charged a year's subscription fee for each person a document is shared with. The charges are incurred without any notification or warning.

This coursera course looks free, which tempts users to register. Once they have registered, the website reveals that the course is not free.

Discount Tire Unsubscribe Dark Pattern? Here is default view.

The New Yorker's consent preferences are unclear. The option for ‘Do Not Sell My Personal Information’ appears to be on, implying the user has selected not to have their information sold, but the instructions say to move it to the left to turn it off. This is confusing.

Udemy Course Dark Pattern for Price Discount, Happened on multiple courses as soon as I clicked buy now or log in it would go back to the original price, I heard they were stealing professors lectures as well and not compensating them or dealing with copyright well either.

Ryanair's text for subscribing to their mailing list says 'If you don't wish to receive these offers, please opt-out' but the tick box is checked by default. This is confusing for the user - do they need to leave the box checked, or uncheck, to opt out?

Look at this misleading crap from @CondeNast. The switch labeled "do not sell my personal info" actually needs to be switched to OFF to keep info private, only explained in the small print. And even though I clicked "do not sell" to get this popup, it's set to ON by default!

Tried out @yousician, but sadly hit right away with @darkpatterns. Tap "Start with free trial" (primes me that I'm not committing to anything yet), give finger ID (almost an habitual thing, as it's required for free apps too) and you just signed up to a 145 USD/y plan.

I've received an email from @netflix asking me to "finalise the signup" when I don't remember registering. Worried about the identity theft etc went to a chat & discovered this is a "PROMOTIONAL EMAIL".

When you press the menu icon the result seems to randomly switch between displaying the full menu where you can choose to open the song in Spotify, save it, or share it, and the Apple Music only pop-up. Sometimes you can press it multiple times & get only one result or the other.

@nntaleb Just saw this today. Tesla refunds in general should be easy to get electronically \& certainly through customer service. Will he addressed.

Elon @elonmusk, your Customer Support at Tesla is even worse than I claimed last time. It is an insult to your customers.

On the @NewYorker's site, there's a cookie setting literally called "Sell My Personal Information". If you disable it, it will auto-enable itself when you use the CTA to close the window! Absolutely egregious disregard for ethical UX.

I hate stuff like this, came across this one recently on @WishShopping. Also important to note, this only, modal comes up after you submit a form of checkboxes, where the last box resubscribes you to a weekly drip campaign

So, @outlook/@Microsoft wants me to manually un-check like 100 companies if I don't want them collecting my data... #privacy

Plusnet with their intentionally confusing language.

WTF @ICICIBank, why would I need life cover while transferring funds to a friend!

A signup window for ClickUp says: 'Save 26 days per year. We analyzed the time saved by over 4,000 teams after switching to ClickUp. That's 624 hours back!' Underneath, the button for not signing up is labelled 'No, I want to waste 26 days'

Check out this gem. Change in standard answer, followed by double negative content.

Hey @RevolutApp. What's with the confusing, blatant dark pattern messaging here when I go to toggle targeted marketing? Why MUST you be so sneaky? Why? Why?

Textbook example of @darkpatterns in Europe: @BogdanCovrig & I visited this webshop from three different browsers & they seem to personalize their timers to the specific browser call. No math.random(), but still curious. Days don’t change, just minutes & seconds.

stop making people jump through the hoop! make these processes simple and straightforward!

Dark Pattern Games is a review site that analyses the Dark Patterns used by different games. It has a voting system and is meticulously put together.

One of the worst @darkpatterns I ever came across: Press allow notifications to verify that you are not a robot. When you decline it even redirects you to a different subdomain and asks you again.

See this #darkpattern all the time in cookie banners: the primary action is not 'confirm', but 'select + confirm all'

One of the many reasons I’m leaving @EE - pulling @darkpatterns like this. Go to buy more data (extortionately priced), choose “One-off” and a pop-up appears with “Monthly Recurring” as the prominent, highlighted option. Now I have to waste my time working out how to cancel…

In this series of in-depth articles, Investigative journalist Justin Elliott looks into the various manipulative and deceptive techniques that Intuit allegedly used in their Turbotax software.

On log in, you either accept marketing emails or cancel which logs you out. No way to opt out here. That’s not good UX @Gumtree #darkpattern

Ok this is really funny, check this out. I was in the process of booking a flight via @OneTravel. Trying to make me book ASAP, they claimed: "38 people are looking at this flight". Whoa

This #darkpattern pops up from time to time in the @Citi @Citibank mobile app. There's no way to dismiss the initial pop up, and when you try to say No Thanks on the next screen, you must confirm you're not interested.

@Touchnote has this gem on their pricing comparison page. One option is marked as "best value". The selected item promises $19.80 of savings. But...they are all the same price?

Hello @IKEAUK, this is from your self-service POS terminal. I don’t want to enter my post code, where am I supposed to press ‘No Thanks’ ?

You know what @NDTVFood, this doesn't give the greatest impression of your site.

check out this cursed shit i found on this site. it tells you to allow notifications to verify if your a human with a fake captcha. i only have seen the beyond burger site do this.

Shame on @Quora for implementing a dark pattern that forces me to download their app without an option to exit this horrible popup

Example of @darkpatterns. The page I wanted to view is hidden by an overlay asking permission to show a popup. I don't want that, but my only options are 'yes' and 'not now, maybe later'. Where is the 'no', @buienradar?

in Eventbrite's last step when you register for tickets. 'Go To My Tickets' not only signs you up for email marketing but it's already opt-in for you. Sneaky + interfering the interface.

Hey @Grammarly, kinda shitty UX trying to hide the button to cancel my subscription.

Nice @darkpatterns here @meteofrance: “j'accepte” doesn't save the current settings, it turns everything on and exits. To keep the selected settings you have to chose “je valide mes choix”

What a mischievous technique to trick people into giving in all the data by accidentally clicking the wrong click of action.

The check-in process in @vueling hiding so many @darkpatterns to fool the passengers taking services we don't want as 'prioritary boarding

Yet another example of @darkpatterns, this time found on @coursera. You cannot just decline, it's "now" or "later"...

CBS makes it exceptionally difficult for users to cancel their premium subscription.

Hey @contactsplus you’re joining the @darkpatterns army!

Deleting your TripAdvisor account? It's more complex than destroying a ring Did you notice that "back" button that looks like a submit one? Well it took me 3 times to realize I was always going backwards instead of deleting my account

This sadly looks like a @darkpatterns from @gitlab 2019 Global Developer Report: DevSecOps

@usertesting the sadly ironic sales experience for visitors on your site is disappointing. No prices + minimal info on the pricing page = informed decision? Then chatbot that asks an unanswerable question & forces me to give email address/name before asking more.

"This article provides the first public evidence of the power of dark patterns. It discusses the results of the authors’ large-scale experiment in which a representative sample of American consumers were randomly assigned to a control group, a group that was exposed to mild dark patterns, or a group that was exposed to aggressive dark patterns. All groups were told they had been automatically enrolled in an identity theft protection plan, and the experimental manipulation varied what acts were necessary for consumers to decline the plan. Users in the mild dark pattern condition were more than twice as likely to remain enrolled as those assigned to the control group, and users in the aggressive dark pattern condition were almost four times as likely to remain enrolled in the program."

"Do you want it or you want it? The choice is yours." What kind of UX #darkPattern sorcery is this lol...

@Quora, please let me know when you have fixed this very dark example of @darkpatterns. I do not have the app and do not wish to download it. You leave me no other choice than leaving Quora. If that's what you want, so be it.

Really poor @darkpatterns from @AdmiralUK. Sign up for car insurance online, manage account online, get email notification of auto-renewal (which I didn't explicitly sign up for) for a 38% increase in cost. No option to cancel auto-renewal online. Shameful and exploitative.

Another #DarkPattern from @listonic (a grocery list app). They use a blue button to add an item to your grocery list - but that button disappears when you scroll down. Their ad space, however, has a similar blue button plastered to it that's always visible.

Haven't seen this dark pattern before... Hit unsubscribe from an email, then like most people I almost skipped the "why?" part and almost got resubscribed. Car dealerships are still generally bad marketers.

Oof, a masterful dark pattern from @nationalexpress @darkpatterns

@crazyegg You know what users LOVE when they're reading articles? Takeover popups that interrupt them and can't be dismissed. This is some @darkpatterns shenanigans right here.

Frustrating: Can’t turn off @Netflix autoplaying next episode kids’ videos directly on smart TV (must use web interface) Bat-Sh*t Infuriating: @Netflix apparently CAN’T disable autoplay for KIDS profiles (only adult ones)? Shame on you.

I have no idea if analytics cookies are turned on or off. This obviously is not what 'good' looks like.

Tried to redeem a @lionsgate digital movie download code, was forced into accepting spam marketing emails if I wanted to continue.

OK, so let's "continue to partners" (there isn't another option anyway). So this screen is now about advertising and tracking. There are 252 partners listed here, with 245 pre-selected. That is a lot of companies who want to know about you. Note the @darkpatterns usage of green.

"'Alexandra from Anaheim just saved $222 on her order' says one message next to an image of a bright, multicolored dress. [...] But “Alexandra from Anaheim” did not buy the dress. She does not exist."

I tried ticking and unticking the boxes—there's no way to permanently say no to both in @MyFitnessPal.

No way to sign out on @smule, an app with millions of downloads. To delete your account, you need to submit a request through their FAQ on their website and fill a super long form. I hate it when apps do this.

@PressedJuicery Trying to unsubscribe from membership, and this what I get?! If I want to cancel, what button do I push?- You have to work at it to be this bad. #darkpatterns

This is once a #darkpattern : I have to order the newsletter in order to be able to register with #otto_de

There’s a dark pattern when you’re browsing @Quora on mobile. You can read an article for a while, but then this pop up shows up. There’s no way to exit out of the pop up without choosing one of these options and they both link to the App Store.

This is a BS dark pattern from @JetBlue. They give the the cheap price of the flight, you enter all your info, then when it comes time to pick a seat, they make it seem like you need to upgrade to make sure you have a seat.

Guess I didn't cancel my @ipsy membership last month. I hope the $10 was worth it. I was planning to take a break for the summer, now I'll never subscribe to ipsy again.

Great @darkpatterns from @Airbnb - The price first displayed is less than half of the actual total. The filter doesn't use the total, so it's useless. The lack of friction helps push people through w/o noticing. Still used AirBnb, but no longer my 1st choice.

Discovered such a shitty dark pattern on @lastminute_com - radio button looks like it’s inactive but in fact you can still press on it. Thumbs down not good, LastMinute.

So apparently, to stop my (online) subscription @lemondefr, I gotta print a paper, fill my data, then send it like a postcard (and pay in the process). Nice

@united doesn't allow you to do web check in unless you download an app and scan your passport. The app collects data it is then able to sell to 3rd parties for their own marketing purposes. Everyone seems eager to get a slice of us...

Medium's signup process is a #darkpattern. It may seem like the only way to create an account is using Facebook/Google, but you can still use email. 1) Go to the "Sign in" page, 2) Click on "Sign in with email", 3) Enter your email, 4) Medium emails you an account creation link.

Holy crap, I had no idea @medium has known about this for years and still not fixed it. So they don't care about blind people?

Square Enix uses trick wording so that some users will unintentionally opt in to marketing communications.

@CitizenApp, via a server enabled "experiment", now ̶a̶s̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ requiring "Always allow" location access. Switching to "When is use" results in not being able to use the app at all

Say it ain't so, Joe. First required field and submit button is to remain in the list. Unsubscribe isn't prepopulated with my email address? That's some #darkpatterns black magic. @darkpatterns

Hey @lucidchart, are you for real? You seriously want to burn those bridges down with those checkmarks, don't you

Try and figure out how to cancel your subscription for @GanttPROcom. Yep it's the little "link" word that has a font-size of 11px and in no way looks like a link. Also, it's mentioned nowhere in their Help Center (which conveniently has no search).

This is @Intuit mailing mngmt. How many dark patterns can you spot? Intentional hiding of "unsubscribe". Double negatives. Check to NOT receive emails but sometimes you actually sign up. And Zuckering – lets you work hard to rid of all their crap.

Finally, I fell in the @darkpatterns by @Sumall Twitter automation tool. Their deactivate account button is gray but the cancellation button (NO, GO BACK.) is green.

Oh hey @Yelp @darkpatterns: “We’ve updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy” Click ’OK’ -> banner disappears New policy lets friends ‘check you in’, shares city w/ co’s, adds arbitration clause in ToS PP diff: https://diffchecker.com/IyAWdaAb ToS diff: https://diffchecker.com/Axd8qn4W

"Office Depot and [...] Support.com, were [accused of] falsely informing consumers that their computers were infected with malware and then selling them various fixes for non-existent problems." (Summary from Luguri & Strahilevitz, 2019)

Omg, You kidding @boursorama? When I open a new bank account I find this Pop-up "Do you want to subscribe to our bank insurance?" Wait... where is the cross to close the pop-up? What are the insurance conditions? Seriously it's hidden and only visible in hover...

You can't opt out of this spam from @ThreeUKSupport without signing up to My3.

So angry My mum was wondering where all her iTunes credit was going. I checked her subscriptions “But I deleted that app!” she said. She had no idea this was happening. For months. And just kept putting more money in She bought it because her grandson loves colouring

@gofundme this is very sad... as you can imagine following https://twitter.com/utopiah/status/1099075503955288064 I do NOT want to use not create a new account. Yet this makes it seem like its mandatory. Should @darkpatterns also pitch in?

When in doubt, make a tool that doesn't work (didn't send any of my faxes) and have it be as difficult as possible to cancel a free trial @darkpatterns #darkpatterns There isn't even a numbered option to cancel on the phone system, 15 minutes on hold... awesome.

Inverse.com: You have to scroll down from the full screen pop up to decline

~a double whammy~ 1) @darkpatterns: trying to unsubscribe from @Delta, are the "program updates" REALLY that important? or you just don't want me to unsub 2) #UX: THESE ARE CHECKBOXES BUT YOU CAN ONLY CHECK ONE THIS IS WHAT RADIO BUTTONS ARE FOR

No "unsubscribe all"? Really @XINGNews?

Horrible experience opening the @cibc iPhone app - multiple @darkpatterns. A forced ad you have to scroll 3 pages down to get past. Then, "No Thanks" is not styled like a button. Makes you double-confirm with reverse-styled buttons. "Go to my accounts" is why I opened the app!

To add to this. The 2 additional fees you see at the bottom weren’t shown until after filling out and customizing your order. At the beginning, it said I’d only be paying for shipping.

Next requires users to tick a series of four checkboxes to opt out of marketing communications, but then requires users to leave the fifth checkbox unticked to opt out. If they are not paying close attention, they will opt in by mistake.

Imperial War Museum Duxford hides by default the actual price of their tickets in favour of one including a 'voluntary donation'