On the intersport.de website, a random number generator was used to fake live consumer interest on product listing pages
"ummmm @Docker Hub cookies preferences take 20 seconds to be processed.. is this a @TrustArc technical challenge or a dark pattern? #darkpatterns"
Despite this being a legal requirement in various legal jurisdictions, pitchbook.com forces users to "consent" to cookies if they wish to enter the website.
"[...] customers received false or misleading information from Robinhood on a variety of issues, including how much money customers had in their accounts, whether they could place trades on margin and more."
A random number is added to the true count of "spam comments blocked to date" to simulate a live counter
Linkedin asks the user a yes/no question but instead of allowing the user to answer "no", the button reads "No, show me more"
The letter reads "statement of account" "FINAL NOTICE" except it's just an invitation to renew a subscription that would otherwise expire.
“Yes, power users complain—and still continue using the site—but the casual user does not. These dark patterns have been normalized on other websites. These practices are done because it works”
Google has recently rebranded its Adwords advertising platform to Google Ads.
Together with the new name, the interface also got a big overhaul.
And as someone who spends many hours of every day on the platform, I can’t say I’m happy with the results.
"No, I don't like savings"
For those of you that don’t know, Fast is a one-click and login checkout tool. To date, they’ve been primarily focused on ecommerce sites which puts them up against the likes of Shop Pay, Apple Pay and other simple purchase solutions...
Wow, the dark patterns in Windows to keep you on Edge are quite something.
Search bing for Chrome leads to huge banner promo for Edge. Changing the default browser pops up promo for Edge.
Really disappointed in @humble for this UI design. The "add to cart" button adds a monthly subscription but is strategically placed to make users believe it will just get them the bundle instead.
Not cool, @humble. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Hey @figmadesign, could you please tell people that they're being charged extra money if they submit this form with the "can edit" option? And maybe explain your pricing model INSIDE the app?
Data sales begin April 26 unless you opt out; T-Mobile claims it'll be anonymous.
Yeah, unfortunately @talkspace @Headspace and @betterhelp are not therapy providers — they are data brokers mining your most intimate conversations & reselling them to 3rd parties incl. advertisers.
You should not use them under any circumstances.
This is how the software company does its best to raise the threshold for purchasing a cloud service.
You can’t get out of the contract without talking to the “customer success team”.
Look at this dark pattern bullshit. Finding the skip button isn't supposed to be a game.
Received a surprise bill of $700+ USD from @confluentinc
I believe I got this bill due to dark patterns in UX and I think Confluent can do much better to treat their customers right.
Over 680 trackers and options for one webpage. "Accept all" or open each single item from a dropdown to opt-out.
This is insane.
When engagement metrics drive the decision. On the left, Twitter’s email with the direct message text included. On the right, LinkedIn’s email forcing me to open the app to see the message. Drives me Bananas every time!
When turning off data collection on Xiaomi phones, you need to turn off every single system app and in between you need to wait 10 seconds.
Is there any other well known SaaS company besides @asana that charges per-seat pricing but uses this dark pattern
What's the difference between Zipcar's $7, $8, and $10 plans?
Samsung's stock health app now showing ads on a friend's Samsung S9 phone, which he bought for hundreds of €.
New York Times makes it intentionally difficult and time consuming to cancel subscription. #forcedcontinuance i finally had to cancel my credit card after trying on chat 3 times, being made to wait and "dropped service". For Shame
EPIC has filed a complaint with the D.C. Attorney General alleging that Amazon unlawfully employs manipulative "dark patterns" in the Amazon Prime subscription cancellation process.
This is the worst cookie permissions menu I've seen. You can't tell what is turned on and what is off. The default when the menu opens up is the top three, with off in gray. When you click on off, you see both off and on without a gray filter. So is this on or off?
The 11-month old audio social network is compelling. It also has some very grown-up problems.
so quartz won't even tell you how much it charges for a subscription unless you give it your email, which automatically subscribes you to a newsletter
Countdown Timer on http://justfab.com. In this instance, the stated offer is valid even after the hour long timer expires.
Countdown Timer in a popup displayed on http://leesa.com. In this instance, the stated offer is valid even after the half hour long timer expires.
Activity Notification on http://jcpenney.com highlighting the number of people who viewed the product in the last day.
Visual Interference on http://greenfingers.com. The opt-out option is grayed out to indicate it is disabled or cannot be clicked, when it can.
Low-stock Message on http://6pm.com. Choosing product options shows Only 3 left in stock. The out-of-stock message makes it always seem that the item just sold out.
Confirmshaming on http://radioshack.com. The option to dismiss the popup is framed to shame the user into avoiding it.
Trick Questions on http://newbalance.co.uk. Normally, checkboxes are designed to be ticked to opt in. In this case however, the user is required to tick to opt out.
Low-stock Message on http://orthofeet.com. The message does not disclose the quantity in stock to users and appears for all products on the website.
Hidden Subscription on http://ross-simons.com. Joining the VIP Rewards Club does not reveal the recurring subscription of $95 unless "Terms and conditions" is clicked on.
Limited Time on http://samsung.com. The website states that the deal is "Limited Time Only" without disclosing the deal's deadline.
Testimonials on http://spanx.com. The website does not disclose how these were sourced, or whether they were submitted by actual customers.
Pressured Selling on http://topcoat.store. On adding a product to cart, a popup appears asking the user to upgrade their purchase.
Activity Notification on http://thredup.com highlighting the names and locations of those who purchased the product. The message always signals sold products as "just saved", regardless of the real recency.
Hidden Subscription on http://wsjwine.com. Selecting the WSJwine Advantage option does not reveal the recurring subscription of $89 unless "Learn More" is clicked on.
An exchange between Congresswoman Cindy Axne of Iowa and CEO of Robinhood Vlad Tenev "opened a window into a sick business model on Wall Street that is pumping out billionaires like Citadel’s Ken Griffin while seducing young people with the gamification of trading."
Clubhouse, the new audio-based social media app... is gaining lots of attention. Part of its popularity comes from it being pegged as the next social media giant. Beyond the hype, its epic product privacy failures are what warrants scrutiny.
Transcript of a 17 minute chat log of a consumer trying to cancel their New York Times subscription.
"Great limited time deal on http://fabletics.com
@Fabletics. Oh wait... It's a #darkpattern. The countdown timer resets every time you refresh the page."
Although it is possible to stop notifications via the iOS operating system settings, if the user goes into the settings area of the clubhouse app, they are only able to temporarily pause notifications.
Despite the user already having chosen their preferred web browser and search engine, Microsoft forces users to consider switching to Edge and Bing. If the user is not paying attention, they may mistakenly opt in to this change.
The meaning of a "tick" is not described (does it mean opt in, or opt out?). This ambiguity will drive higher opt-in rates.
This report argues that TikTok does not comply with the GDPR in a number of ways.
This high calorie snack is packaged in a deceptive manner by prominently showing a calorie count that appears to be for the whole packet, but upon closer inspection is just for a small portion. Further information is hidden using illegible text.
"...this one nearly got me. @trello really wants you to use their free trial... the start without is juuust below your view."
"I learned about a new feature Lyft quietly rolled out a few months ago. Drivers hate it. It's called priority mode and Lyft pitches it to drivers as a way to "stay busy... We'll prioritize you over other drivers." But it comes with a 10% pay cut."
"Getting desperate now? This came up when I opened the @YouTube app. I don't want premium. I don't want a trial. I've said that at least a hundred times so far, now this without even a close button. Talk about @darkpatterns
The German "expat community" website @Internationsorglures their members into automatically renewing membership subscription plans & charges their credit cards without prior notification for yearly membership fees. If an
@Internationsorg
member decides not willing to accept that the Albatross membership was automatically renewed, they force their #darkpatterns on them by hiding the "downgrade" & "delete profile" options from the user interface & threat their members with debt collectors.
The Norwegian Consumer Council’s study analysed the cancellation process for Amazon Prime. The analysis shows that consumers who want to leave the service are faced with a large number of hurdles, including complicated navigation menus, skewed wording, confusing choices, and repeated nudging. Throughout the process, Amazon manipulates users through wording and graphic design, making the process needlessly difficult and frustrating to understand.
This is a very long legal agreement that the user can only read 10 lines at a time, making it more likely for users to give up and proceed, unawares of the content of the document.
The traditional square stop-button has been disappearing from media players across the board.
This seems like a deliberate trend; a subtle tactic to keep you "captive" - don't present the user with any obvious option to stop watching and they will be less likely to think to.
"Legitimate Interest sounds like "you say no, but we're making it legitimate to track you".
So I don't consent but you still have a legitimate right to have relationship with my privacy?
How does that work? 🤔"
Google appear to be tricking the user into 'enabling YouTube history' (in this case it had been disabled) so that the user can then 'choose an auto-delete option' for that history.
"Before you use, or subscribe to @Baremetrics, please make sure you read this. This happened today. I went to their app to try & unsubscribe because we feel that Stripe's own dashboard is good enough for us after they added reporting specifically.
Maybe don't say there's a chance to get a 25% discount when its literally impossible
"@myoddballs Maybe don't say there's a chance to get a 25% discount when its literally impossible"
If the user attempts to click go, the cookie pop-up may appear directly below their cursor just as they are about to click, causing them to inadvertently opt in to tracking.
When you try to find the unsubscribe button from peacock emails. Dark gray on a dark black background.
The instagram redesign involved moving a new shopping button to where the "like" button used to be, causing many users to tap it by mistake.
In the last days, the most recent Instagram update has been in the news for the worst reasons. Many users and influencers have publicly spoken out their dissatisfaction, namely James Charles, who, in a rant video, advised his followers not to update their apps.
Google Calendar has always had a "Add Google Meet / Google Hangout" option on calendar meeting invites, but recently auto-adds the Google Meet if you add others to the calendar invite, without any notification.
Upgraded to iOS 14. Apple says "setup hey Siri" and has "setup later in settings" under it in small text Tap that, then continue with normal Siri Giant red 1 on settings Have to repeat above Also have to reenable dictation on my keyboard.
Marktplaats.nl saves your email and spams you even if you don’t finish registering for an account
Before the American election we compared the experience of donating money to Donald Trump vs Joe Biden through their websites. Who uses dark patterns to trick users into donating more?
The account deletion process requires the user to check their email. This makes the process unnecessarily difficult.
"A group of researchers at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) has just published the findings of its research into a collection of 100,000 political emails, including those from the Trump campaign. It found that the majority of emails used “dark patterns” to manipulate voters and trick donors."
Beekting.com provides customers with instructions on how to create fake notifications that play on cognitive biases.
Deceptive food packaging is everywhere. This packaging recommends that you eat 4 biscuits as part of a "balanced breakfast" but the calorie figures are for an 11.25g serving, which turns out to be just a single biscuit.
"Whereas some campaigns might communicate with supporters for the purpose of grass-roots organizing, the Trump emails I receive have only one purpose: to gin up contributions. And the solicitations are unlike any I’ve ever seen. Tonally, they diverge wildly from those of past presidential campaigns — or from anything that might be termed “presidential” at all."
Tesla owner says he butt-dialed a $4,280 Autopilot upgrade — and is still waiting on a refund. Dr. Ali Vaziri says he was charged for a $4,280 software upgrade for his Tesla without even being aware of opening the app. Other Tesla users have reported similar problems.
Psychology Today website is a roach motel. You can't remove your credit card info, you can only change it. There is no way to stop the service through their website interface. Have to contact them to get it stopped.
FT.com, making it very easy to sign up for a monthly charge of 28 € instead of cancelling subscription which was my intended purpose.
I'm pretty sure I observed a dark pattern with Spectrum cable's support chat. If I am right, they're trying to weed out people by making them wait as a sort of barrier to using chat.
This website uses a privacy management tool called TrustArc which makes it much slower to opt out of tracking than to opt in.
When confirming preferences to 'Allow Apps to Request to Track', the text is confusing and does not make it clear whether apps are not allowed to track the user, or won’t have to ask before tracking them.
Running and cycling app Strava's Flyby privacy settings are automatically set to be shared with everyone. Thus users passing one another will be tagged in each other's runs, and able to access their full name, picture and a map of their running route.
"A new study out of Princeton shows that the vast majority of campaigns use dark patterns and clickbait subject lines to beg for donations."
"At a time when many parents are looking for more opportunities for educational enrichment online, it is disappointing that services like ABCmouse have scammed millions of dollars from families through dark patterns, as alleged in the Commission’s complaint. By making it extremely difficult to cancel recurring subscription fees, ABCmouse engaged in conduct that was not only unethical, but also illegal."
Children’s Online Learning Program ABCmouse failed to disclose important information to consumers, leading many consumers to be renewed & charged for memberships without their consent
A loan popup screen appears when a user logs in to Pakistani bank HBL's app. It features a picture, some text and Yes/No buttons to begin evaluation of your loan, all in English. This could lead to users who did not want a loan getting one and paying it back with 25-35% interest.
StoriesOnBoard does not allow users to cancel their subscription without sending an email or starting a support chat.
The Tfl App's Privacy Settings offer a ‘Accept All’ but no ‘Reject All' option. For users not wanting to Accept All the option is to 'Manage Cookies' which then leads the requirement to 'Manage Partners’. Users may find this time-consuming and non-transparent.
Wired's consent management platform shows unselected settings as having 'Objection applied'. A box to opt-in is labelled 'Remove objection'. Using the word 'objection' implies shaming the user for not having opted in.
Social media platforms repeatedly use so-called dark patterns to nudge you toward giving away more of your data.
Now TV takes subscribers wishing to cancel through multiple screens asking them if they're sure they wish to cancel before letting them select 'I still want to cancel'.
"While nutrition and food labelling is in the news, here's a thread about the nutrition information labels which are required to appear on prepacked food in the UK, and how they can be manipulated with increasingly absurd definitions of a "serving". Examples follow..."
You've seen them before: the UX ploys designed to trick you into spending money, or make it nearly impossible to unsubscribe. Here's what to look out for.
Numerous dark patterns employed by the Trump campaign.
Amazon requires the user to turn on device notifications in order to use AmazonSmile.
I’m still not sure how to unsubscribe from care.com
A class action lawsuit was filed in June 2020, alleging that the New York Times has been violating California law by automatically renewing consumers’ subscriptions without proper authorization and making it “exceedingly difficult” to cancel existing subscriptions.