I am Definitely Manipulated, Even When I am Aware of it. It s Ridiculous! -- Dark Patterns from the End-User Perspective

Abstract

Online services pervasively employ manipulative designs (i.e., dark patterns) to influence users to purchase goods and subscriptions, spend more time on-site, or mindlessly accept the harvesting of their personal data. To protect users from the lure of such designs, we asked: are users aware of the presence of dark patterns? If so, are they able to resist them? By surveying 406 individuals, we found that they are generally aware of the influence that manipulative designs can exert on their online behaviour. However, being aware does not equip users with the ability to oppose such influence. We further find that respondents, especially younger ones, often recognise the "darkness" of certain designs, but remain unsure of the actual harm they may suffer. Finally, we discuss a set of interventions (e.g., bright patterns, design frictions, training games, applications to expedite legal enforcement) in the light of our findings.CCS Concepts: • Security and privacy → Social aspects of security and privacy; Usability in security and privacy; • Humancentered computing → Empirical studies in HCI; Graphical user interfaces.

Disentangling Online Manipulation Strategies from the Perspective of Digital Inequalities

“…In opposition to rational persuasion, manipulation refers to subverting the manipulee's vulnerabilities in a hidden way [35,36]. To resist this influence, prior work has shown that it is necessary to perceive the try of subversion and have agency over it [2,3,23,27]. Therefore, it is first necessary to understand the users' vulnerabilities towards user interfaces to analyse if they are manipulated or not and, second, test their capability to resist it.…”

“…Moreover, although the literature on awareness and detection of dark patterns is increasing, the effects these mechanisms have on vulnerable populations -children, the elderly, lower digitally skilled users, and minorities-are under-explored. Bongard-Blanchy et al [2] and Luguri and Strahilevitz [20] have found manipulative design to be more impactful on users with a lower education level, hinting at a problem that is urgent to address.…”