Hall of shame

"A 6 minute video below that explains how Facebook's UI employs dark patterns that make users share more data than they may intend."

The program collects information about the apps you have installed on your phone, how often you use them, which Wi-Fi networks you connect to and your web browsing habits and then sells that valuable information to marketers.

A comment on a pop-up that appears on google.com when using a web browser that is not Google Chrome.

Zoom uses obstruction and misdirection in its subscription cancellation journey.

"Tech giant Google unfairly steers consumers towards its surveillance system when they sign up to a Google account, instead of giving them privacy by design and by default as required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)."

"I am really sick of @Norton's dark patterns -- like 1.) blocking the "x" on dialogs, when 2.) the dialog itself is all advertising, not an actual warning."

eWebinar uses a fake countdown timer, pressurising users to click through.

"Google has now drawn a line in the sand. Give us all your local SSIDs, local bluetooth connections, with likely even more detail, or they now refuse to allow you to use Maps to navigate."

A critical analysis of Amazon's purchasing user journey (spoiler: contains dark patterns!)

Reddit is famous for their relentless interruptions to their web experience in pushing users towards their native mobile app. Here they experiment with a "cheeky" nudge about cats and dogs.

This modal dialog box requires users to subscribe to a mandatory newsletter.

The user needs to click a small button labelled "..." then select "Decline", then ignore the main button (despite it being the thing they requested) and select the less obvious secondary button labelled "Confirm".

"Venmo has a feature where the person that you’ve requested payment from can opt into payment protection, which adds a 1.9% fee to the transaction that the requestor pays without any sort of consent or control if opted into. It’s a dark pattern that I can’t believe is legal."

"Norton360 isn't the only antivirus product installing cryptominers. Avira, a "free" antivirus product w/ > 500M users, recently introduced users to Avira Crypto. Avira is now owned by NortonLifeLock, which also just bought Avast antivirus (500M users)"

Cancelling this New York Times subscription took about 8 minutes. Most of the time was just waiting for the CS rep to respond in live chat.

"Now I know why I'm getting marketing material posted to me when I thought I'd turned this off"

"In order to refuse the deposit of cookies,m internet users must click on a button entitled "Accept cookies", displayed in the second window."

"The company should know by now, based on the dozens of previous rejections: I'm not interested!"

This is a #privacy nightmare and an utter disgrace. @Verizon you are a pipe to the internet and that is all. I am appalled you would think you have the right to track and monetize my activity.

Are they purposefully neglecting to create cost control, projection and notification features?

If you register with http://ebay.co.uk using the "sign in with google" feature, you get automatically opted in to marketing emails.

On the intersport.de website, a random number generator was used to fake live consumer interest on product listing pages

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.

"ummmm @Docker Hub cookies preferences take 20 seconds to be processed.. is this a @TrustArc technical challenge or a dark pattern? #darkpatterns"

"[...] 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...

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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?

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

Samsung's stock health app now showing ads on a friend's Samsung S9 phone, which he bought for hundreds of €.

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

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.

Countdown Timer on http://justfab.com. In this instance, the stated offer is valid even after the hour long timer expires.

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.

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.

Limited Time on http://samsung.com. The website states that the deal is "Limited Time Only" without disclosing the deal's deadline.

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.

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.

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.

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://jcpenney.com highlighting the number of people who viewed the product in the last day.

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.

Testimonials on http://spanx.com. The website does not disclose how these were sourced, or whether they were submitted by actual customers.

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.

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.

"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."

Transcript of a 17 minute chat log of a consumer trying to cancel their New York Times subscription.

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.

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.

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.

"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? 🤔"

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.

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.

"@myoddballs Maybe don't say there's a chance to get a 25% discount when its literally impossible"

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.