Deceptive Design – formerly darkpatterns.org

Reading list

In-app browsers (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) found to track everything that users do.

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592

Do not browse the web in in-app browsers (e.g. in apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok). Experience is bad. Those apps also INJECT TRACKING INSTRUCTIONS. They control every interaction, all that is typed, clicked... Browse with normal web browsers.

Lukasz Olejnik | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

“By cancelling, I acknowledge: HP Instant Ink subscription cartridges will no longer work after my final billing cycle ends, even if they are already installed in my printer.”

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"Because instant ink bills at the end of each billing cycle, I will receive one final bill for $11.99, plus charges for any additional pages printed. I will lose rollover pages associated with my account."

AssholeDesign | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Nice dark pattern @treatwellnl! That didn't work.

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Treatwell uses trick questions - alternating sentiment for its checkbox labels - to trick users into agreeing to emails or tracking.

Riccardo | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Capitalone uses confirmshaming to encourage users to install a browser extension that tracks them extensively.

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Sign up for CapitalOne Shopping and you get Confirmshaming and Privacy Zuckering. BTW thanks to Safari for making the data you’re trying to harvest so very obvious.

Lisa Woodley | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Instagram doesn’t allow me to keep my account deactivated. Instead it reactivates and doesn’t allow me to deactivate it again.

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"Sorry, you can only disable your account once a week. Try again in a few days."

AssholeDesign | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

In honor of National Bad Poetry Day, I dedicated some limericks to @darkpatterns

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"There was one a man from Rizal, who wanted to cancel Adobe's free trial. He opened his account, only to find out, he'll owe thousands - if he does - tragical"

Caye | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Sedo's deceptive cookie UI involves an "Accept all" button where the user would expect a "Continue" button.

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Nice cookie selection dark pattern from Sedo to start the morning.

Harry Bailey | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

When Tech Companies Do It, The NY Times Calls It ‘Dark Patterns,’; When The NY Times Does It, It’s Called ‘Being Smart'

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"There’s a spectrum of behavior — some of which is just smart business and tech practices, and some of which is more nefarious. But using the term “dark patterns” to broadly describe anything that we don’t understand, or can’t see that is designed to get you to do something… becomes problematic pretty quickly. "

Techdirt | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Skype tricks users into uploading their address book - via a dialog box that has no visible option to refuse.

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Noticed my Skype client on the iPad started doing this sneaky crap where when you open the app it presents a prompt that asks you to approve sharing all your contacts w/ Skype. And there's no visible way to say "no."

briankrebs | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Do the DSA and DMA Have What It Takes to Take on Dark Patterns?

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"...the DMA may root out some dark patterns, but only for “gatekeeper” companies, and only in contexts where those dark patterns relate directly to the law’s other provisions [...] Ithe DSA might have had a decisive impact on the prevalence of dark patterns online. However, those hoping for a broad, aggressive approach to dark patterns may be underwhelmed..."

Jennifer King | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Duolingo's A/B testing use is causing users to flock to its premium model, now at 3.3 million accounts

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'"We use A/B testing to optimize nearly everything related to our products, from new gamification features, to our learning content, to our Super [Duolingo] purchase page design, and even to the notifications that learners receive as reminders to do their lessons," said von Ahn'

Pittsburgh Inno | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

When a user uses duolingo on a series of consecutive days, this is called a streak. If users miss a day, they can pay to 'repair' it.

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Wow, didn't know you could pay to continue your broken streak on Duolingo. Not sure how I feel about this.

Paras Chopra | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

An opinion poll on Trump's website contains a deceptive request for a donation, with recurring monthly repayments preselected.

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"Still raising cash off stealing Top Secret documents."

Ron Filipkowski | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

In its battle with Big Tech, the CFPB is building an army of engineers

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The CFPB says it’s hiring 25 technologists over the next year to help its staff of mainly economists and lawyers actually probe these new leads. The move is as sure a sign as any that the bureau’s ongoing efforts to investigate and hold tech companies accountable for financial wrongdoing are only accelerating.

Protocol | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Choice Australia looks at the deceptive practices ("dark patterns") that companies use to manipulate our online shopping behaviour.

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The Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) found that more than eight in 10 Australians (83%) have lost money, lost control of their data or have been manipulated by a business to make a choice that isn't in their interest.

Chandni Gupta | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Luton airport, after prepaying for parking

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Luton airport website shows a disguised ad. It appears to be a "continue" button leading on from the checkout, but in fact tricks users into subscribing to a totally unrelated service.

Socially Distant David | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Imagine getting locked out of your smart home thermostat because your credit card expired on an e-commerce store account.

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"Last month we had debit card fraud, where bank sent us new card. [...] Meanwhile, everything Amazon shut down for us. Amazon, Alexa, smart thermometers. Worst of all - the last season of #BetterCallSaul, which I *paid* for."

Phil Hill | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Moonpig email hides the unsubscribe link using black text on a black background.

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"How nice of you to hide the unsubscribe link "

Ben | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

UK retailer Currys uses a questionable nudge to encourage users to buy insurance when checking out.

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“Continue without care and repair” - Note how you can’t click the big “continue” unless you buy insurance.

Deceptive Design | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

What are you playing at signing people up for £15pm subscriptions in this way Dominos?

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After a user pays for Dominos Pizza (UK), they are shown a deceptive ad that looks like a "Continue" button when in fact it's a monthly subscription plan.

David Rogers | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

If Jeff Bezos or Amazon executives like CEO Andy Jassy used vanishing messages to discuss Prime, the FTC wants them handed over as it investigates the company's sign-up tactics

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The FTC wants Amazon to fork over any disappearing messages that executives used to discuss Prime.The federal agency has been probing Amazon over potentially misleading tactics used to get people to subscribe. Insider reported in March that Amazon execs were worried customers felt tricked into signing up but did nothing.

Insider | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

Yes, Or Yes? The Reality of Dark Patterns

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Dark patterns and the façade of decisional privacy; Attempts to regulate dark patterns globally; Legal implications of dark patterns in India.

Siri Harish | Aug 21, 2022

Aug 21, 2022

How Facebook Manipulates You Using Dark Patterns

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"A 6 minute video below that explains how Facebook's UI employs dark patterns that make users share more data than they may intend."

Luiza Jarovsky | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

Facebook’s Dark Pattern Design, Public Relations and Internal Work Culture

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This study examines Facebook's issues by analyzing leaked documents and published news articles. It outlines the dark patterns that the company has applied, and discusses how they promote toxic behavior, hate speech and disinformation.

Pekka Kallioniemi | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

Have you ever heard the term #DarkPatterns ? Here you can see some examples of how they are usually presented (Spanish language)

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"Recently, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted for public consultation its 'Guidelines [...] These guidelines, like the AEPD guide, take article 5.1.a of the RGPD as a starting point to assess when a design pattern in a user interface corresponds to a dark pattern."

Asedico | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

Adobe interupts users with large pop-up ad they press "Save" in Adobe illustrator, a product they have already paid for.

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"It's easy to dunk on Adobe software quality, I know. But I hit "Save" in Illustrator and got this hilariously huge cloudsell."

Cabel | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

“Dark pattern”, “nudge”… Are we manipulated on the Internet? (French Language)

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"On the Internet, traps aim to make us click where we don't want to. The English-speaking world calls them “dark patterns” – or “rigged interfaces”. What is the difference with the nudge , which aims to guide our actions by acting on “the architecture of our choices ”? Where is the line between influence and manipulation?"

Philosophie Magazine | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

"A very real @darkpatterns that I've seen in multiple previous jobs."

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"Because of a bug in the code somewhere, you end up showing the wrong discounted price in the cart until checkout. [...] this bug actually increases conversion. [...] The bug is now a "feature".

Seth Newman | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

'The Farmers Dog' requires users to enter many pages of personal data before they can view prices.

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"this is a gross dark pattern from ⁦@thefarmersdog⁩. you have to affirm the marketing material before you’re allowed to see a price."

Eric Jacobs | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

Patreon uses a deceptive UI in its cookie dialog.

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"Such unclear langage is probably not GDPR compliant. What is really happening when I click on “Reject All” and then “Accept”? I hope it’s not a dark pattern to force me to “accept” your cookies."

Olivier Simard-Casanova | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

After 30 days, Instagram forces users to see suggested posts, even though they requested for them to be hidden.

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"AKA “We will automatically uncheck your stated preferences and ruin your experience once a month until we wear you down and you stop manually re-checking them.”"

Peter V. Brett | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

"Only 1 available and it's in 6 people's carts."

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"So what do you want us to do, fight?"

James | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

Facebook's "mute notifications" UI uses confusing language and provides only provides temporary options (e.g. 15 mins).

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"fun lil deceptive UI pattern from (apparently desperate) F*cebook this morning: I updated my phone & shortly after got a push notification from FB - I’ve had those turned entirely off for at least 3-4 years! so I go spelunking in the settings…"

Cyd Harrell | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

AT&T alternates the meaning of on and off in their email preferences page.

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"A fun dark pattern from ATT: you can turn specific marketing emails OFF or you can turn Unsubscribe ON."

Matt Hodges | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

Are Dark Patterns Anticompetitive? [PDF]

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"We show that digital manipulation erodes users’ ability to act rationally, which empowers platforms to extract wealth and build market power without doing so on the merits. [...] our research asserts that antitrust enforcement should go further in promoting decisional privacy."

Gregory Day and Abbey Stemler | Aug 06, 2022

Aug 06, 2022

FTC Investigation Into Amazon Prime Dark Patterns Intensifies

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The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly deepened its investigation into Amazon’s employment of dark patterns in the Amazon Prime subscription cancellation process. As EPIC explained in a complaint to the D.C. Attorney General last year, Amazon employs dark patterns to deter customers from canceling their Prime subscriptions.

EPIC | Aug 05, 2022

Aug 05, 2022

Ask HN: What's up with these DoorDash dark patterns?

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"you can't actually drill into and read reviews which makes assessing the actual quality of the restaurant difficult. And I've found that restaurants will run their own "ghost kitchen" shadow restaurant out of their main (poorly rated) location."

flycatcha | Aug 04, 2022

Aug 04, 2022

Gumtree UK makes it very difficult to opt out of ad tracking.

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Gumtree UK provides a "one click" opt-in for ad tracking, yet requires dozens of clicks to opt out.

matt sephton | Jul 31, 2022

Jul 31, 2022

Trump email campaigns continue to use a slew of deceptive design techniques.

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"LAST CHANCE... We won't email you again." (I got 10 more messages in the next seven hours.) It says I need to "RENEW" a membership I never had in the first place. Fake urgency of final contact to nudge action.

Augie Ray | Jul 30, 2022

Jul 30, 2022

When inviting a new member, Slack does not show the price or the party that will be charged.

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"Scenario: Startup wants to invite contractor (who isn't on Slack) as a single-channel guest to their team. Slack shows Startup this modal, most people pick the first one (that's the correct selection) But... this forces the contractor to pay $7/mo"

| Jul 30, 2022

Jul 30, 2022

BeyondMenu uses fake reservation confirmation in an email campaign to drive open rates

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BeyondMenu used the email subject line "Your Friday reservation is confirmed..." - which was likely to alarm users, none of whom had made a reservation. When opened, the email reads "Your reservation is confirmed with your couch... Order now"

Blinkplays | Jul 30, 2022

Jul 30, 2022

HP requires users to create an online account in order to use offline features.

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"HP at it again: Have to create an account to scan a document."

SanktusAngus | Jul 30, 2022

Jul 30, 2022

Thanks to regulatory action by the ACM, Wish.com no longer allows fake discounts or personalised pricing in the Netherlands

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Prices on Wish were personalised, based on location and purchase behaviour. The platform failed to inform its customers about this. Following the ACM's demands the company has decided to end its price personalisation in the EU.

Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) | Jul 30, 2022

Jul 30, 2022

Expresso requires users to enter their name and email address before they can unsubscribe from emails.

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"boa página para quem clica em "editar subscrição" no fim do vosso email não solicitado porque tem outras newsletters que quer manter, @expresso" (Portuguese language example).

Henrique Vasconcelos | Jul 29, 2022

Jul 29, 2022

LINC case study on dark patterns, blurred information and settings scattered to the four winds.

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This case study is part of a mediation effort by the LINC on the design of interfaces. It translates in the form of a fictitious service decisions made by the CNIL in order to make them clear and accessible.

LINC | Jul 29, 2022

Jul 29, 2022

Boston Globe subscriptions cannot be cancelled in the first 24 hours of creating them.

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"Signed up for the @BostonGlobe to read an article. Article was 'meh', so wanted to cancel my sub. Cannot do it online, have to call. The agent tells me: 'You can't cancel the first 24 hours because you'll only show up in the system after...'"

Gergely Orosz | Jul 28, 2022

Jul 28, 2022

The future of cars is a subscription nightmare

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Heated seats, remote start key fobs, and other creature comforts are likely to be subject to monthly or annual fees

Andrew J. Hawkins | Jul 13, 2022

Jul 13, 2022

The Ethics of Nudging

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All over the world, governments are using nudges as regulatory tools. Is this ethical? Much of the answer depends on whether nudges promote or instead undermine welfare, autonomy, and dignity.

Cass R. Sunstein | Jun 05, 2022

Jun 05, 2022

FTC Looks to Modernize Its Guidance on Preventing Digital Deception

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As Companies Wrongly Invoke the Guide to Justify Deception, Agency Seeks Public Input on Possible Revisions Around Dark Patterns and Other Deceptive Tactics

FTC | Jun 03, 2022

Jun 03, 2022

What Makes a Dark UI Pattern? (Video)

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Introductory video about Dark Patterns by NNgroup

NNgroup | Mar 11, 2022

Mar 11, 2022

GDPR enforcer rules that IAB Europe’s consent popups are unlawful

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EU data protection authorities find that the consent popups that plagued Europeans for years are illegal. All data collected through them must be deleted. This decision impacts Google’s, Amazon’s and Microsoft’s online advertising businesses.

| Feb 02, 2022

Feb 02, 2022

Dark Patterns: A New Legal Standard or Just a Catchy Name? (Part One)

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State and federal regulators have definitely put a new emphasis on combatting so-called “dark patterns” – but other than a catchy name, is there really anything new about the types of conduct that state and federal officials are calling illegal? This two-part blogpost will take a closer look at that question.

Paul Singer & Jessica Rich | Feb 01, 2022

Feb 01, 2022

Dark Patterns: A New Legal Standard or Just a Catchy Name? (Part Two)

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In this post (Part Two), we examine the FTC’s approach to this issue, now and in the past. Here, we conclude that, despite the new terminology, the practices that comprise today’s dark patterns have been core elements of FTC law and policy for years.

Paul Singer & Jessica Rich | Feb 01, 2022

Feb 01, 2022

Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation

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"Google has now drawn a line in the sand. Give us all your local SSIDs, local bluetooth connections, with likely even more detail, or they now refuse to allow you to use Maps to navigate."

| Feb 01, 2022

Feb 01, 2022

If you think all design is manipulation, please stop designing

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In this article and associated twitter thread Cennydd Bowles opines that design is not manipulative by definition. In his words: "Design influences. It persuades. But if it manipulates, something’s wrong.".

Cennydd Bowles | Jan 31, 2022

Jan 31, 2022

The Rising Human Cost of Sports Betting

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"The bitter truth of addiction is obscured by the smarmy ads and compromising relationships, and yet federal oversight is downright nonexistent."

Kurt Streeter | Jan 31, 2022

Jan 31, 2022

The Psychology Behind Amazon's Purchase Experience

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A critical analysis of Amazon's purchasing user journey (spoiler: contains dark patterns!)

Dan Benoni & Louis-Xavier Lavallee | Jan 31, 2022

Jan 31, 2022

Why designers should remove “Hooked” from their reading list

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"The first edition of the book came out in 2013, and our knowledge on some topics, such as social networks and mental health, is changed A LOT."

| Jan 26, 2022

Jan 26, 2022

Investigation reveals scale of behavioural surveillance by online gambling firms

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This investigation provides extensive information about the scope of the data flows and the web of third-party companies that receive that data to build detailed and intimate profiles of individuals, often without their knowledge.

Clean Up Gambling | Jan 26, 2022

Jan 26, 2022

CMA secures changes to Xbox subscription practices

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The CMA has secured improvements for Xbox online players, following concerns about Microsoft’s use of auto-renewing subscriptions for online gaming services.

Competition and Markets Authority | Jan 26, 2022

Jan 26, 2022

Google deceived consumers about how it profits from their location data, attorneys general allege in lawsuits

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The complaints allege the company has deployed ‘dark patterns,’ design tricks that can subtly influence users’ decisions in ways that are advantageous for a business

Cat Zakrzewski | Jan 24, 2022

Jan 24, 2022

MEPs adopt Digital Services Act with significant last-minute changes

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Article 13a in the DSA "explicitly forbids the use of specific techniques to extort consent to collect personal data, for instance, via repeatedly showing pop-ups. It also prevents platforms from requesting such consent if users already choose via ‘automated means’, which might be a setting in the web browser or operating system."

Luca Bertuzzi | Jan 20, 2022

Jan 20, 2022

Reddit manipulates users into installing mobile app

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Reddit is famous for their relentless interruptions to their web experience in pushing users towards their native mobile app. Here they experiment with a "cheeky" nudge about cats and dogs.

Szprinktrap | Jan 18, 2022

Jan 18, 2022

Steinberg requires users to subscribe to a newsletter before using one of their products

Airtable ID

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This modal dialog box requires users to subscribe to a mandatory newsletter.

agirres | Jan 17, 2022

Jan 17, 2022

Facebook makes it tricky to decline an invitation

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The user needs to click a small button labelled "..." then select "Decline", then ignore the main button (despite it being the thing they requested) and select the less obvious secondary button labelled "Confirm".

Zach Collier | Jan 16, 2022

Jan 16, 2022

Confusopoly: confusing marketing designed to prevent the buyer from making informed decisions.

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"If [the sellers] can confuse the consumer enough then the consumers won't necessary know what choice they're making and they can be talked into just about anything." -  Richard Cordray (Former Director of CFPB, 2014)

Wikipedia | Jan 16, 2022

Jan 16, 2022

Venmo's payment protection feature allows the buyer to add a fee that the sender pays - without their consent

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"Venmo has a feature where the person that you’ve requested payment from can opt into payment protection, which adds a 1.9% fee to the transaction that the requestor pays without any sort of consent or control if opted into. It’s a dark pattern that I can’t believe is legal."

witchoria | Jan 10, 2022

Jan 10, 2022

Norton and Avast install crytpominer software without user consent

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"Norton360 isn't the only antivirus product installing cryptominers. Avira, a "free" antivirus product w/ > 500M users, recently introduced users to Avira Crypto. Avira is now owned by NortonLifeLock, which also just bought Avast antivirus (500M users)"

Brian Krebs | Jan 08, 2022

Jan 08, 2022

NYT subscription takes much longer to cancel than to create.

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Cancelling this New York Times subscription took about 8 minutes. Most of the time was just waiting for the CS rep to respond in live chat.

Darkpatterns.org | Jan 07, 2022

Jan 07, 2022

From Compliance To Privacy UX: Regulators Come For Dark Patterns

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The French data protection authority hit Facebook and Google with multimillion-dollar fines yesterday for their use of deceptive design in their cookie consent banners.

Stephanie Liu, Andrew Hogan & Enza Iannopollo | Jan 07, 2022

Jan 07, 2022

If you click to subscribe, you should be able to click to cancel.

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FTC has made clear that to comply with the law, businesses must ensure sign-ups are clear, consensual, and easy to cancel.

Lina Kahn | Jan 06, 2022

Jan 06, 2022

Barclays bank "Tick the box if you don't want us to tell you about offers..."

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"Now I know why I'm getting marketing material posted to me when I thought I'd turned this off"

kimeshan_ | Jan 06, 2022

Jan 06, 2022

France spanks Google $170M, Facebook $68M over cookie consent dark patterns

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Today, the CNIL said it’s fined Google €150M (~$170M) and Facebook €60M (~$68M) for breaching French law, following investigations of how they present tracking choices to users of google.fr, youtube.com and facebook.com.

Natasha Lomas | Jan 06, 2022

Jan 06, 2022

Cookies: the CNIL fines GOOGLE a total of 150 million euros and FACEBOOK 60 million euros for non-compliance with French legislation

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Following investigations, the CNIL noted that the websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com do not make refusing cookies as easy as to accept them. It thus fines FACEBOOK 60 million euros and GOOGLE 150 million euros and orders them to comply within three months.

CNIL | Jan 06, 2022

Jan 06, 2022

In order to refuse cookies, Facebook makes users click a button titled “Accept Cookies”. You have to laugh

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"In order to refuse the deposit of cookies,m internet users must click on a button entitled "Accept cookies", displayed in the second window."

Mark Di Stefano | Jan 06, 2022

Jan 06, 2022

Google is manipulating browser extensions to stifle competitors, DuckDuckGo CEO says

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"Google for years has used misleading notifications to lure users into disabling its rival’s browser extensions [...] The changes include requiring users to answer whether they would rather “Change back to Google search” after adding the DuckDuckGo extension and showing users a larger, highlighted button when giving them the option to “Change it back”.

Cristiano Lima and Aaron Schaffer | Jan 05, 2022

Jan 05, 2022

Twitter's "Install App" modal dialogue prompt on top of all the content is a form of user abuse

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"The company should know by now, based on the dozens of previous rejections: I'm not interested!"

Metadat | Jan 01, 2022

Jan 01, 2022

When Tracking Your Period Lets Companies Track You

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Many of health apps also have a dark side — selling your most personal data to third parties like advertisers, insurers and tech companies. [Podcast episode]

Emily Kwong, Rebecca Ramirez & Margaret Cirino | Dec 29, 2021

Dec 29, 2021

Cancelling NYT subscription is unnecessarily hard.

Airtable ID

524

"Cancel anytime" actually means "you need to call a phone number, wait for someone to pick up and *maybe* you can cancel then. Or not."

Gergely Orosz | Dec 21, 2021

Dec 21, 2021

Food packaging deception: "Slack-fill"

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"Slack-fill is the difference between the actual capacity of a container and the volume of product contained therein." "A container that does not allow the consumer to fully view its contents shall be considered to be filled as to be MISLEADING if it contains [...] slack-fill"

darkpatterns.org | Dec 21, 2021

Dec 21, 2021

An overview of the provisions successfully pushed through by the Greens/EFA into the European Digital Services Act:

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On 14 December 2021, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee of the European Parliament adopted its report on the Digital Services Act.

Alexandra Geese | Dec 14, 2021

Dec 14, 2021

What does a future without dark patterns look like?

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In a world with the EU Digital Services Act, online platforms must design web services in a way that does not trick users into giving away their personal data. If they fail, they’ll be held accountable.

The Greens / EFA | Dec 14, 2021

Dec 14, 2021

Why is it so easy to rack up huge bills from AWS without intending?

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Are they purposefully neglecting to create cost control, projection and notification features?

darkpatterns.org | Dec 14, 2021

Dec 14, 2021

Verizon's tracking feature is opt out, so customers will be tracked without their knowledge.

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This is a #privacy nightmare and an utter disgrace. @Verizon you are a pipe to the internet and that is all. I am appalled you would think you have the right to track and monetize my activity.

Burley | Dec 14, 2021

Dec 14, 2021

Toyota owners have to pay $8/mo to keep using their key fob for remote start

Airtable ID

517

Feature requires subscription even though it doesn’t use connected services.

Tim De Chant | Dec 13, 2021

Dec 13, 2021

Ebay's mandatory marketing emails

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If you register with http://ebay.co.uk using the "sign in with google" feature, you get automatically opted in to marketing emails.

Ebay | Dec 13, 2021

Dec 13, 2021

Google admits that they actively worked to "slow down and delay" the ePrivacy Regulation.

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Hidden away in #Google adtech antitrust complaint, in ref to internal docs: “We have been successful in slowing down and delaying the [ePrivacy Regulation] process and have been working behind the scenes hand in hand with the other companies.”

| Oct 22, 2021

Oct 22, 2021

The Media Manipulation Casebook

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A digital research platform linking together theory, methods, and practice for mapping media manipulation and disinformation campaigns.

Joan Donovan | Jul 09, 2021

Jul 09, 2021

Intersport.de uses fake "X visitors are looking at this product right now" component.

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514

On the intersport.de website, a random number generator was used to fake live consumer interest on product listing pages

darkpatterns | Jul 04, 2021

Jul 04, 2021

Docker Hub has a delay when users opt out of tracking, and no delay when users opt.

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"ummmm @Docker Hub cookies preferences take 20 seconds to be processed.. is this a @TrustArc technical challenge or a dark pattern? #darkpatterns"

BogdanCovrig | Jul 01, 2021

Jul 01, 2021

Pitchbook.com provides users no way to opt out of cookies.

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512

Despite this being a legal requirement in various legal jurisdictions, pitchbook.com forces users to "consent" to cookies if they wish to enter the website.

ThatDesignFeel | Jul 01, 2021

Jul 01, 2021

Akismet uses a random number generator to show a fake live counter on their home page.

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511

A random number is added to the true count of "spam comments blocked to date" to simulate a live counter

OnarAlili | Jun 30, 2021

Jun 30, 2021

Robinhood to pay $70 million fine after causing ‘widespread and significant harm’ to customers.

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510

"[...] customers received false or misleading information from Robinhood on a variety of issues, including how much money customers had in their accounts, whether they could place trades on margin and more."

Alicia Adamczyk | Jun 30, 2021

Jun 30, 2021

A New AI Lexicon: BIG DATA SWINDLING (大数据杀熟, dà shùjù shā shú)

Airtable ID

509

"The roughly translated “big data swindling” (大数据杀熟, dà shùjù shā shú [...] is a hotly debated term used to describe a mix of dark patterns and dynamic pricing that online platforms employ to exploit users..."

Shazeda Ahmed | Jun 29, 2021

Jun 29, 2021

The New Yorker sends a fake "final demand" letter to trick users into resubscribing.

Airtable ID

508

The letter reads "statement of account" "FINAL NOTICE" except it's just an invitation to renew a subscription that would otherwise expire.

joelanman | Jun 28, 2021

Jun 28, 2021

Linkedin limits user choice to drive engagement.

Airtable ID

507

Linkedin asks the user a yes/no question but instead of allowing the user to answer "no", the button reads "No, show me more"

SimonGabriel | Jun 28, 2021

Jun 28, 2021

This is how you are manipulated on the internet

Airtable ID

553

This german language article on spiegel.de introduces the concept of dark patterns.

| Jun 27, 2021

Jun 27, 2021

Ex-reddit engineering manager admits to the dark patterns they built while working there.

Airtable ID

506

“Yes, power users complain—and still continue using the site—but the casual user does not. These dark patterns have been normalized on other websites. These practices are done because it works”

Wting | Jun 26, 2021

Jun 26, 2021

Dark Patterns in Google Ads.

Airtable ID

505

Google has recently rebranded its Adwords advertising platform to Google Ads. Together with the new name, the interface also got a big overhaul. And as someone who spends many hours of every day on the platform, I can’t say I’m happy with the results.

Dennis | Jun 12, 2021

Jun 12, 2021

What Makes a Dark Pattern... Dark? Design Attributes, Normative Considerations, and Measurement Methods

Airtable ID

504

A review of recent (2020) work on dark patterns. The authors demonstrate that the literature does not reflect a singular concern or consistent definition, but rather a set of thematically related considerations.

Mathur, Arunesh; Mayer, Jonathan; Kshirsagar, Mihir | May 08, 2021

May 08, 2021