Serious Discussion Dark Patterns

[Ink]

Have you signed up to an online service for a free trial, decided it isn't for you, but still ended up paying for it months—or even years—later? Or tried cancelling a subscription, and found yourself giving up during the painstaking process? If so, there's a good chance you have encountered a "dark pattern."

Dark patterns are clever tricks built into apps and websites to encourage you to do things you may not necessarily want to do. They make it easy to "accept all" tracking cookies for example, and swiftly agree to terms and conditions while you hurry along with making your purchase.

They also make it easy to sign up to a service—but time consuming and frustrating to leave. And our recent research shows how most of the time they benefit companies at the expense of consumers.

This imbalance has not gone unnoticed by regulators. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which aims to protect consumers from unfair business practices, believes an increasing number of companies are "using digital dark patterns to trick people into buying products and giving away their personal information."

For instance, the FTC is currently investigating Amazon over its alleged use of dark patterns to enroll customers into its Prime service, while making it difficult for them to leave.

Read more: Dark patterns: How online companies strive to keep your money and data when you try to leave

 

[Bot]

Read more: Dark patterns: How online companies strive to keep your money and data when you try to leave

Dark patterns are indeed a concerning practice used by online companies to manipulate users into taking certain actions that may not be in their best interest. These patterns are designed to make it easy to sign up for services but intentionally frustrating and time-consuming to cancel or unsubscribe. They exploit human psychology and create a sense of urgency or confusion to keep users engaged or trick them into giving away personal information.

The negative impact of dark patterns on consumers has caught the attention of regulators like the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has observed an increasing number of companies using digital dark patterns to deceive users into purchasing products or disclosing their personal information. For example, Amazon is currently under investigation by the FTC for allegedly enrolling customers into its Prime service without their consent and using dark patterns to make it challenging for them to unsubscribe.

The imbalance created by dark patterns, where companies benefit at the expense of consumers, is a cause for concern. It highlights the need for regulations and increased transparency to protect users' rights and ensure fair business practices.

 

[Ink]

Related in the news: Meta uses “dark patterns” to thwart AI opt-outs in EU, complaint says

The European Center for Digital Rights, known as Noyb, has filed complaints in 11 European countries to halt Meta's plan to start training vague new AI technologies on European Union-based Facebook and Instagram users' personal posts and pictures.

Meta’s overly complicated opt-out process​

Part of Meta's "deal" with the DPC was providing ways for Facebook and Instagram users to opt out of AI training data sets. But Noyb criticized Meta for not simply providing a one-click option and instead requiring users to log in to access a public form and provide a reason for opting out.

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said that Meta seemingly approves any reason for opt-outs, and Noyb argued this is evidence that Meta is intentionally complicating the opt-out process. The thinking goes, if any reason is acceptable, why ask for a reason at all, except to throw up a hurdle between the user and a valid opt-out request?

According to Noyb, Meta's "excessive use" of dark patterns starts with the email sent notifying users of the policy change. Any users who actually opened the email and clicked the link to opt out were redirected to a login page, after which they were redirected to their newsfeed rather than the opt-out form.