Dark Patterns at Scale

Abstract

Dark patterns are user interface design choices that benefit an online service by coercing, steering, or deceiving users into making unintended and potentially harmful decisions. We present automated techniques that enable experts to identify dark patterns on a large set of websites. Using these techniques, we study shopping websites, which often use dark patterns to influence users into making more purchases or disclosing more information than they would otherwise. Analyzing ∼53K product pages from ∼11K shopping websites, we discover 1,818 dark pattern instances, together representing 15 types and 7 broader categories. We examine these dark patterns for deceptive practices, and find 183 websites that engage in such practices. We also uncover 22 third-party entities that offer dark patterns as a turnkey solution. Finally, we develop a taxonomy of dark pattern characteristics that describes the underlying influence of the dark patterns and their potential harm on user decision-making. Based on our findings, we make recommendations for stakeholders including researchers and regulators to study, mitigate, and minimize the use of these patterns.

Citizens Versus the Internet: Confronting Digital Challenges With Cognitive Tools

“…10 Dark patterns are anything but rare. In a recent largescale study, Mathur et al (2019) tested automated techniques that identified dark patterns on a sizeable set of websites. They discovered 1,818 instances of dark patterns from 1,254 websites in the data set of 11,000 shopping websites.…”

“…In sum, persuasive designs and commercial nudges can go far beyond transparent persuasion and enter the territory of hidden manipulation when they rely on dark patterns (Mathur et al, 2019), default settings that intrude on user privacy (Norwegian Consumer Council, 2018), and the exploitation of people's biases and vulnerabilities (Susser et al, 2019). These practices affect not only how users access information but also what information they agree to share.…”

Citizens Versus the Internet: Confronting Digital Challenges With Cognitive Tools

“…Brignull (see Brignull, 2019;Gray, Kou, Battles, Hoggatt, & Toombs, 2018;Mathur et al, 2019) are a manipulative and ethically questionable use of persuasive online architectures.…”

“…In sum, persuasive designs and commercial nudges can go far beyond transparent persuasion and enter the territory of hidden manipulation when they rely on dark patterns (Mathur et al, 2019), default settings that intrude on user privacy (Norwegian Consumer Council, 2018), and the exploitation of people's biases and vulnerabilities (Susser et al, 2018). These practices impact not only how users access information but also what information they agree to share.…”

“…Categories and types of dark patterns.Source: Dark Patterns Project at Princeton University, https://webtransparency.cs.princeton.edu/darkpatterns,Mathur et al (2019).…”