Research by the Federal Trade Commission and other international consumer protection groups has found disturbing data on the frequency of “dark patterns” in apps and websites that require membership. Silicon Valley’s Dark Patterns are a set of deceptive design practices used to entice users to stay enrolled in subscription services.
According to TechCrunch, in this age of ubiquitous digital subscriptions, customers confront a hidden danger in the form of manipulative design strategies called “dark patterns.” On Thursday, the FTC and two international consumer protection networks published a detailed report that revealed how common these misleading techniques are in the digital subscription market.
After looking over 642 subscription-based websites and applications, researchers found that roughly 76% used some sort of black pattern. We found that over 67% of sites used multiple dark patterns, which should make everyone wary of online shopping.
Dark patterns, which are intentionally included in designs in a subtle way, sway user behavior and cause people to make choices they would not have made otherwise. Some examples of these manipulative tactics include making it hard to cancel subscriptions and using visual tricks to make people buy more expensive choices.
With 81% of the platforms studied employing this strategy, “sneaking” was one of the most common dark patterns seen. One aspect of this strategy is that customers are unable to opt out of automatic subscription renewals when they initially purchase or sign up. On top of that, 70% of the services we looked at didn’t clearly outline how to cancel memberships, and 67% didn’t even include a cancellation deadline to prevent further fees.
The survey also discovered the prevalent dark trend of “obstruction,” which involves having people go through unnecessary hassle or complexity when trying to do things like cancel a subscription or skip a free trial offer. This strategy makes it difficult for customers to unsubscribe from services they no longer wish to use by hiding or graying out relevant options.
Researchers also found that “forced action” was common; for example, 66.4% of the platforms they looked at had users provide their payment information before they could get a free trial. If customers fail to cancel before the trial finishes, they may incur further costs.
In order to sway users’ decisions, 21.5% of the platforms analyzed made use of social proof, a psychological phenomenon that draws on the actions of large groups of people. This often entails showing analytics about other users’ actions in order to promote subscriptions or upgrades within the framework of such services.
Also common in the study was interface interference, which is a general term for dark patterns. This involves employing a visual hierarchy to encourage business-friendly solutions (seen in 38.3% of platforms) and pre-selecting more expensive subscription options (22.5% of situations). Some sites went so far as to utilize emotionally manipulative terminology known as “confirm-shaming” to shame consumers into making specific decisions.
The research, which is a component of the ICPEN annual evaluation, took place between January 29 and February 2. Using the organizational framework for economic cooperation and development’s dark pattern descriptions, researchers drew from 27 authorities in 26 nations. The committee released a study in 2022 that looked into these misleading tactics in several different sectors, including e-commerce and applications for kids.
Comments are closed.