[Tech Thoughts] Shining the light on dark patterns online

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Not everyone has the resources or knowledge to 'see' dark patterns in online services that trick or manipulate users into doing things they don't necessarily want to do

Users of online sites and services usually contend with something that feels off to them, though they might not have the words to name or describe it.

If you’ve ever felt influenced by a site or service into making a choice you weren’t planning on doing, you may have been affected by something called a “dark pattern” or “deceptive pattern.”

Not everyone has the resources or knowledge to “see” dark patterns in the services they use. Dark patterns can therefore more readily affect young users, the elderly, or those who don’t have the kind of digital literacy needed to spot or resist a dark pattern.

Let’s shine a light on what dark patterns are, including offering some examples of some common ones you may have noticed online already, but never thought about as nefarious.

Describing dark patterns

In technology, dark patterns are used to describe user interfaces or systems designed to benefit online services or sites by tricking or manipulating people into doing things they don’t necessarily want to do.

Such dark patterns can include things like limited-quantity discounts to a product that shouldn’t be limited in quantity because they’re digital, or the existence of timed discounts that pop-up on a shopping site. These can also take the form of user interface tweaks that make it easier for a person to get onboard a service, but difficult to leave.

In a nutshell, there is a veritable mountain of dark patterns one we might slog through in the course of a day online. It makes tech companies money while also making it harder for an average consumer to assert themselves accordingly.

Some common dark patterns for online services

As we’ve mentioned earlier, there are a lot of different deceptive patterns online. To make it easier for us to be informed, let’s discuss some of the most notable dark patterns you might see in online services.

Privacy Zuckering

Privacy Zuckering, named after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a common dark pattern on social media websites, wherein you are manipulated into giving a social media service or other website more of your personal data than you intended to give.

In a 2021 article on Vox, they noted how Instagram adjusted its wording and user interface coloring to facilitate making it easier to get your data, by discussing permissions to use your app and website activity as a matter of “personalization” rather than of targeting or tracking.

This practice extends into something more commonplace these days, namely artificial intelligence-powered services — such as those on smartphones or on the web — which will want your data to improve itself accordingly. Use of AI can have those permissions baked in without you knowing you’ve already been Zuckered into giving up your data.

The Roach Motel

Related to this, the Roach Motel dark pattern is named after an insect trap used to keep cockroaches in a box. In this case, Roach Motel dark patterns make it easy for someone to sign up for or opt into a service but more difficult to leave.

Digital subscriptions, for example, can have trials where you need to input your credit card data to begin the free trial, but the service website is designed to make it harder to opt out or unsubscribe before the trial ends or after you’ve paid up for while.

Misdirection

If you’ve ever noticed a site that makes it harder for you to close a pop-up or that makes you download something you never intended to, you’ve likely stumbled upon a dark pattern called misdirection.

These misdirections can include clicking on a button to accept and continue a process, but that button isn’t actually connected to the thing you’re trying to do — these happen with some ads that say “Click here to continue” and you have to scroll down to find the actual correct button to click on.

Bait and Switch and Drip Pricing

On travel sites and airplane booking sites, you may see these two patterns often alongside other dark patterns.

The bait and switch example for a travel site might show you a discounted price for a hotel reservation, but then while trying to book it, says there are no more rooms with that discount available, and offer you more expensive rooms as a suggestion.

There’s also the drip pricing method, where small fees (such as taxes, surcharges, or additional assorted fees) are tacked onto a seemingly low-priced purchase like a cheap plane ticket so you end up buying something for a higher price than you expected because you’ve already gone through the process of accepting those fees and want your discounted seat.

Study up!

While Wikipedia is an alright source of information for some definitions — such as Privacy Zuckering — there’s actually one place online I can recommend for studying up on dark patterns in a more scholarly sense.

Deceptive Patterns is a site that supplies wonderful examples to the above dark patterns, though some of the above are combinations of smaller dark patterns into a more nefarious one.

For instance, a bait-and-switch dark pattern can be the combination of providing artificial scarcity to a product or service to provoke a sense of fake urgency and impair one’s decision-making regarding a particular action.

The site provides not just the examples of dark patterns, but also lists laws meant to combat them, alongside cases and real-world examples in which they were used. There’s even a Hall of Shame for the most egregious offenses.

If you have the time, study up on these deceptive patterns, and raise hackles if you spot them in your day-to-day! – Rappler.com