New paper, open access.
‘If Deceptive Patterns are the problem, are Fair Patterns the solution?’
By Tim de Jonge, Hanna Schraffenberger, Jorrit Geels, Jaap-Henk Hoepman, Marie-Sophie Simon & me.
New paper, open access.
‘If Deceptive Patterns are the problem, are Fair Patterns the solution?’
By Tim de Jonge, Hanna Schraffenberger, Jorrit Geels, Jaap-Henk Hoepman, Marie-Sophie Simon & me.
Diesen Donnerstag um 20 Uhr im @c4:
»Labyrinth der Konzerne – Dark Patterns und Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie.
In unserem Diskussionsformat Arbitrary Bytes im #C4, möchten wir mit euch über die Bedeutung der Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie und der daraus resultierenden Designmuster und ihrer Folgen für unsere geistige Gesundheit und unsere Gesellschaft sprechen«
https://koeln.ccc.de/updates/2025-07-31-ABCCCC_Dark_Patterns.xml
Social-Media-Verbot für Kinder und Jugendliche?
Social Media erst ab 16 Jahre! Das fordert Schleswig-Holsteins Ministerpräsident Daniel Günther. Mittlerweile hat seine ehemalige Kabinettskollegin, Bundesbildungsministerin Karin Prien, eine Arbeitsgruppe eingesetzt, die sich dieses Thema annehmen soll. Zeit, die Argumente zu sortieren.
https://kaffeeringe.de/2025/07/24/social-media-verbot-fuer-kinder-und-jugendliche/
Well that's disappointing. I've been a big fan of BrowserStack for years now, but today I was greeted by a dark-pattern-laden interstitial ad when logging in. Boo.
Somehow the fuckers at #Avast tricked my elderly uncle years ago into subscribing to an auto-renewing $100/yr VPN service he does not need and does not use.
I found out only because I monitor his email and the renewal failed because his credit card expired.
1/2
#scam #DarkPatterns
Having fun booking a train ticket with SNCF Connect. Holy dark pattern, Batman!
The text says "Do not receive offers or discounts from SNCF Connect to travel in France or in Europe."
Do I toggle or not?
#BadDesign #DarkPatterns
@lolgop I support this idea and I will probably sign the petition (I’m a TM customer. Still mulling over whether I want to support Verizon or AT&T instead).
I support #TeslaTakedown and participated in one of their protests. But look at how scummy this petition is.
First I notice that they inform me that I “may receive” email from a bunch of groups. That’s weird because it implies uncertainty.
Then I notice this microscopic, grey-on-grey text that says “edit subscription preferences”. I haven’t signed in to this site, so how do I even have any preferences to edit? I tap it and it expands to an already-opted-in list of ELEVEN different orgs who will all feel entitled to spam me because they will point to this as the time I affirmatively opted in to receive all their emails.
How many petition signers even see that, much less click it? This is a #DarkPattern and this is really slimy. The ONLY way to be slimier would be to opt me in without even telling me.
The word “preferences” is plural, implying I have more than one preference. In practice my choice is to accept email from all 11 or none. It’s a single preference, hidden from view as much as possible.
I logged back into #pinterest recently after reading about how it's gaining popularity again. Check out how the push and email notification toggles are all hidden behind accordions #darkpattern #darkpatterns #DeceptivePatterns #deceptivepattern
Delft Fringe Festival, best leuk, behave als je een kaartje probeert te kopen zonder cookies en spyware te accepteren. Je kunt sommige cookies afwijzen, als je de verstopte menu optie weet te vinden, maar dat moet je dan bij elke stap in het bestelproces opnieuw doen.
Hier de indrukwekkende lijst van advertentie bedrijven die met je mee kijkt, waaronder #Google en #Facebook: https://themarkup.org/blacklight?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdelftfringefestival.nl%2Fwinkelwagen
I suspect that #parentalcontrols are intentionally designed to make it harder for #parents to take any actions that aren't in the tech company's business interests.
I can’t tell if it’s #BadBadUX because it’s deprioritized internally, “tacked on” at the end, or if it’s deliberate #DarkPatterns to confuse and exasperate parents into complying with their monetization goals.
My experience in #PlayStation, #Roblox, #Android, #iOS, #GooglePlay is so bad, it couldn’t be by accident.
Oh, the irony! "Fast fashion" company Shein caught using tactics to slow shoppers down. Their app sends up to 12 notifications per day and uses countdown timers to create artificial urgency. Seems their "dark patterns" are more clingy than my evening food demands!
#shopping #darkpatterns
With #DigitalFairnessAct in the works, we urge @EU_Commission to avoid regulatory overlap. Many DFA issues (e.g. #DarkPatterns, #InfluencerMarketing) are already covered by EU laws like #DSA & #GDPR.
It's about better enforcement, not more rules.
https://ccianet.org/library/joint-industry-statement-on-the-digital-fairness-act/
The Register: India none-too-subtly reminds Big Tech that local laws prohibit dark patterns. “India’s government has reminded big tech companies that it has rules that prohibit the use of dark patterns – deceptive design practices that deliberately mislead and confuse customers of online services and apps – and called for an end to their use.”
I managed to get a video of this dark pattern. 12 seconds in you can finally see the faint "skip" button pop in. First I have to click the 'What's happening under the hood?" link. Then I have to leave the explanation on the screen for a while, then skip appears.
Here's a nice #darkpattern from #AmazonQDeveloper. Installing it on my #debian laptop and it pops up this GUI. Now, grey text on white background is a completely pedestrian dark pattern.
The thing that is new for me, that isn't obvious from a single screenshot, is that the "skip" grey text doesn't appear at all for like 10-20 seconds. When you first see this dialog box, there's no 'skip' button. This might lead you to believe it isn't possible to skip. I tend to read things that pop up. And so while I was reading the skip button appeared.
Thanks #darkpatterns
Tried to delete my Airbnb account. Saw a "Deactivate" button and thought - wow, guess I was wrong about corporations going out of their way to hold on to their property (your data).
But nope, turns out deletion is a separate process.
Airbnb: "Just contact support to reactivate."
Support: "Please login."
Support: "Sorry, you can’t login, this account is deactivated."
Love a good dark pattern.
Regulator and lawmakers around the world are finally targeting organisations that use #darkpatterns to manipulate consumers into using products or services.
Chandni Gupta, Deputy CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre (and friend of EFA) has wrapped up some fantastic research on this issue. Chandni met with scores of regulators, enforcement agencies, consumer advocacy groups and choice architecture experts in the US, UK, Singapore and India about dark patterns and how they regulate them.
Case in point is Amazon's Project Iliad, a process designed to make it harder for customers to cancel their Prime membership. How? By making the process so needlessly complex that many users would give up and abandon the form.
Chandni writes that Australia is falling behind on protecting citizens from dark patterns. Legislating consumer potections against dark patterns is vital to protect us from manipulation of our behaviour and choices online.
Read the CPRC report: https://cprc.org.au/report/made-to-manipulate-report
Die Verbraucherminister fordern mehr Schutz vor #DarkPatterns & gezielter Werbung! Sie sehen Handlungsbedarf bei Online-Marktplätzen & sozialen Netzwerken, die psychologische Tricks nutzen. Der Digital Fairness Act könnte helfen. Mehr dazu hier: https://www.heise.de/news/Verbraucherminister-machen-gegen-Dark-Patterns-und-gezielte-Werbung-mobil-10398656.html #Verbraucherschutz #DSA
#newz
Kurzlink: https://heise.de/-10398656
Paper on #DarkPatterns and #AddictiveDesigns by Xin Ye: How manipulative digital interfaces and algorithmic systems undermine autonomy and exploit attention. Proposes key regulatory reforms in EU law.
Read here: https://doi.org/10.34669/wi.wjds/5.3.2
#DigitalManipulation #UX #AttentionEconomy #DSA #GDPR #ConsumerProtection @Weizenbaum_Institut