Dark pattern (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia’s article on dark patterns (also called deceptive design patterns): user interfaces deliberately crafted to trick customers into actions they wouldn’t otherwise choose, such as buying an overpriced add-on or signing up for a recurring charge. UX designer Harry Brignull coined the term on July 28, 2010 by registering darkpatterns.org, “a pattern library with the specific goal of naming and shaming deceptive user interfaces.”
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Key points
Named pattern types: bait-and-switch (advertising an unavailable or discounted item to redirect customers toward a pricier alternative once they’re committed — TurboTax’s “free filing” claim led to a $141 million multistate settlement between Intuit and state attorneys general in 2022, separate from the FTC’s own administrative action against Intuit over the same claim); drip pricing (revealing mandatory fees incrementally through checkout, after the customer has already invested time); confirmshaming (wording a decline option to shame the customer into accepting instead); misdirection (pairing a prominent accept action with a deliberately minimal or hidden decline option, often bundling unwanted software installs); privacy zuckering (obscured or delayed opt-out controls that trick customers into sharing more personal data than intended, named for Facebook’s early privacy-settings practices); and roach motel (effortless signup paired with a deliberately difficult cancellation process, such as requiring a printed, mailed cancellation request).
Regulatory response: the EU’s GDPR requires consent to be unambiguous and freely given, and the Digital Services Act explicitly names and addresses dark patterns; California banned deceptive cookie-consent opt-out interfaces (2021); the UK’s Children’s Code (2020) prohibits privacy-undermining “nudges” aimed at children. In the US, the FTC issued a 2021 enforcement policy statement and a 2022 staff report (“Bringing Dark Patterns to Light”), and has brought enforcement actions including a $245 million settlement with Epic Games (announced 2022, order finalized 2023) over deceptive in-game purchase defaults.