Dark Patterns

Overview
Dark Patterns refer to an instance where "user value is supplanted in favor of shareholder value." More specifically, they are "instances where designers use their knowledge of human behavior and the desires of end users to implement deceptive functionality that is not in the user's best interest." These dark patterns generally attempt to get users to perform some action that they did not intend to do. Examples include providing a website with personal data or unintentionally purchasing a product or subscription.

While dark patterns are considered poor design and are clearly unethical, some are downright illegal. As legislative bodies continue to create regulations for consumer advocacy, e-commerce, and the tech industry, it will become more important for companies to understand both the ethical and legal results of dark pattern use. These deceptive practices do not need to be directly linked to commerce, but affect a wide range of user experiences, including game design.

Examples
The following are four ways in which dark patterns are used to deceive users (for all 12 visit darkpatterns.org):

Confirmsharing
When a design attempts to shame you into doing something. For example, the decline option is worded in a way that shames you into accepting.

Here is an example of confirmsharing:



This is a dark pattern because it forces you to admit that you "don't want more knowledge" when you are only interested in not receiving another emailed newsletter.

Friend Spam
A website asks to access your email contacts or social media permissions, giving you the impression it will use them for some positive outcome, like connecting you with friends. Instead it spams (irrelevant or inappropriate emails sent to a large number of recipients) your contacts with messages that appear to be from you.

LinkedIn's method of "helping you find connections" also happened to cause you to inadvertently spam invitations to all of your contacts who did not have a LinkedIn account. LinkedIn recently settled a lawsuit due to their use of this dark pattern.

Hidden Costs
You get to the last step of the checkout process only to discover that unexpected charges have appeared, like warranties or insurance.

Here is an example of an optional cost that the user must now opt out of:



This is a dark pattern because the "optional" charge is already selected for you, forcing an additional action in order not to purchase it.

Roach Motel
A roach motel is a situation that is very easy for you to get into, but hard to get back out of, like paid subscriptions with hard to find cancellation links.

Here is an example of a roach motel dark pattern:



This is a roach motel because it's very easy to buy the insurance, but in order to opt of it, you must find that option buried in a list of countries.

Ethics
Dark Patterns are unethical because they attempt to take advantage of users in various ways.

Bad Design
They do not have the users' needs in mind, are frustrating for users, and are therefore examples of poor design.

Bad Business
How customers feel they are being treated is a large part of the buying experience. Dark Patterns, by definition, are not treating customers well.

Legality
Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) (15 USC §45) prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” This prohibition applies to anyone engaging in commerce.

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) "requires that a user's informed consent to processing of their personal information be unambiguous, freely-given, and specific to each usage of personal information."

Lawmakers in the United States recently introduced a bill (DETOUR Act) to combat Dark Pattern use in large tech companies. The DETOUR Act "makes it illegal for large, public online services of more than 100 million monthly active users to “design, modify, or manipulate a user interface with the purpose or substantial effect of obscuring, subverting, or impairing user autonomy, decision-making, or choice to obtain consent or user data.”"

As more dark patterns are identified as violations of various regulations, and as more regulations are created and enforced, it will become more important for companies and the UX designers they employ, to avoid using them.