Hall of shame

"They made it sound as if you could easily have regular US postage stamps delivered to your door. It turns they’re a private company and it is a subscription. It required you to print the postage and I couldn’t figure out how to cancel the subscription for a while. I was billed for months before I realized it."

"This one is not as nefarious as others, but just to get the ball rolling… The “Cart” button on Amazon is almost hidden by color as compared to the “proceed to checkout” button. I’ve hastily clicked proceed to cart numerous times when attempting to review my purchase."

"Visiting a page on the news site invokes a banner prompting to create an account. The ‘Register’ prompt is pre-selected and the ‘Maybe later’ option is inconspicuous. Plus ‘Maybe later’ leads the user to have to make a false statement about their future intent if they have absolutely no intention of ever registering. It attempts to guilt the person into registering or implying they wish to do so but do not have the time right now."

"This pattern can be found on the Twitch.tv website (as of January 10th, 2023) When you visit the site for the first time – there is a Privacy Banner on top stating that the company “values your privacy” and has two buttons “Opt-out preferences” and “Proceed”."

"In its cart/website, Kaspersky claims that their subscription can be cancelled at anytime. If you add anything to their cart, it will say: “You can cancel anytime”. Of course, one might think “great, I can cancel the subscription”. But actually, what you cancel is the autorenewing of the subscription. You are not guaranteed a refund. You can only be assured of that if you click on the “Read More” tool tip “How to cancel You can cancel the auto-renewal of your SUBSCRIPTION at any time. If you cancel, you will have full protection until the end of the already paid term. After this date, your subscription will end, and you will not be charged for any subsequent periods.”"

"The settings requires you to individually deselect a very long list of cookie options, with no reject all, but there is an easy way to accept all."

"Fundamental rights cannot be for sale. Are we going to pay for the right to vote or the right to free speech next? This would mean that only the rich can enjoy these rights, at a time when many people are struggling to make ends meet. Introducing this idea in the area of your right to data protection is a major shift. We would fight this up and down the courts" - @maxschrems for @NOYBeu

"Section: “Do not sell my personal information:” Option: “on this website” Options: “on/off” Most sites ask: “we want to do x: do you want us to do this?” This site asks: “we want to do x: do you not want us to do this?” Adding the negative is unexpected, and preys on the assumptions built up from from other sites."

"Since the magazine stopped printing and went totally online, I have been trying to cancel my subscription, but have yet to be successful. I have waded through their unsubscribe process, but always get lost in the system. I don’t want an online magazine subscription. It is frustrating!"

"Ticketmaster is perhaps the prime example of this – you probably have gotten multiple submissions. They add high fees that aren’t revealed until the final step before “Complete purchase”. It costs more than my budgeted amount for tickets frequently when I purchase tickets via Ticketmaster. A friend of mine once was going to buy a ticket, only to discover that the Ticketmaster fees were more than the cost of the ticket itself – he did not purchase the ticket. You can recreate the experience by purchasing any ticket via Ticketmaster. Photo sourced from: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/opiq9b/8178_in_fees_for_two_concert_tickets_but_dont/"

"It’s very easy to subscribe to this newspaper and enter your credit card information. You can go back and change the card you use for payment. Impossible to cancel or remove credit card information without having to speak to customer service. The CSR’s that take your call will offer a cheaper subscription but the information they provide is not accurate. Took three calls to cancel the subscription after they attempted to triple the cost."

"When I purchase a product, Amazon automatically signs me up for auto repurchase.The checkbox of auto repurchase is checked.It should default to unchecked."

"Ipsy makes it incredibly difficult to cancel a membership. Plus, they treat their glam bags and refreshments as separate memberships, so you must separately cancel each if you wish to cancel all. The cancel flow is filled with dark patterns including having 24 hours to click a button on an email that doesn’t get delivered right away."

"Cookie settings difficult to navigate. As soon as you try to turn off cookies, a button pops up at the top saying ‘allow all” which automatically ignores your choices."

"The option to opt-out is an ‘off-on’ button that is incredibly unclear (does ‘off’ mean that they will NOT sell my information? or that the opt-out if ‘off’, meaning they WILL sell my information?)."

"The Hays recruitment “TrustArc” cookies dialogue has these bizarre features: 1. The first page has 2 blue buttons on hard left: “Agree and Proceed”, “Required Only” with “View cookie settings” on hard right in plain text. 2. View cookie settings has a vertical slider which makes each category available to click. You need to slide it down vertically to display what’s enabled or disabled. 3. To actually make changes to the categories, you then need to click “Advanced settings” 4. The advanced settings allow you to switch cookies off for Functional and Advertising cookies, BUT to view what’s actually listed in each category you have to click “View Cookies>” on each category. 5. There’s a pseudo-toggle to switch off Functional and Advertising cookies. The toggle values are “out” and “in”, with the selection highlighted in blue text on a grey background. 6.Once that’s done, you then click Submit preferences and allegedly the choices are recorded."

"On their Brightside.me website, the cookie opt-out disguises the “confirm my choices” as though it isn’t a button, encouraging users to instead click “allow all and close.”"

"The option to not accept cookies is not an official button unlike the button to accept cookies. It is instead bolded letters on the left that could be potentially hard to distinguish from the text above. The weight of the choices is not equal because one has a more accessible design (the option to opt-in to cookies) than the other."

"Venmo’s arbitration opt-out requires literally mailing them a piece of paper. Of course, continuing to use the service and agree to their mandatory arbitration does not require that. See the agreement to arbitrate section here – https://venmo.com/legal/us-user-agreement/ https://twitter.com/KendraSerra/status/1517520309183606786/photo/1"

"The interface seems to suggest, upon registration, that the only two options for using an app are an annual or monthly paid option (with a “free” trial). The freemium option is available by clicking a partially obscured X in the upper part of the screen."

"The Wall Street Journal makes it very easy to sign up for subscriptions online, but doesn’t allow users to cancel their subscription via the same method (online). They also have a “cancel via SMS” option on their subscription customer center which then collects your cell phone number. And, that cancellation via SMS is also not a valid to cancel your subscription. So not only do I need to call, wait on hold and provide them with my mailing address to cancel, they also now have my cell phone number. The harm is anguish, mental exhaustion and a forfeiture of my personal information."

"To reproduce this you will have to have a premium subscription. * Scroll to the bottom to “Manage” premium service. * That takes you to a pricing page and in a small text link “Cancel Premium Service” * Clicking on that will take you to your first confirmation page detailing the feature you are going to lose. Click remove this feature. * Takes you to another page that asks why you’re canceling. Click on the reason such as “Premium is too expensive” * Takes you to yet another page that says “Maybe we can help” with a link to their help center and another plain text link “Continue to cancel” * The final page tells you to call a telephone number to cancel premium service."

"There is not a big deny all button right next to the accept button, but rather a configure button that makes me have then click a disable all button."

"Greyhound’s website uses a timer to pressure my decision making while I browse for fares."

"Making it difficult to unsubscribe. Once logged in to my account online, there is an option to unsubscribe. However, when you click on it, you’re given 3 options: one to look at other price plans, one to transfer a subscription, and one to cancel by calling their toll-free number. When you call the number, you’re routed through a sequence that wants to update the antenna in your car, regardless of requesting to cancel the subscription by choosing the appropriate option on the menu. When finally given the choice to speak with a customer service representative, the automated system says they’re having too many calls, and would you rather text with a representative? When opting for that choice, you again begin with a bot, before being transferred to a human (maybe?) who then tries to sell you another plan. When I was given the option of a cheaper plan, I was told it was the same promotional plan I used to be on when I first subscribed. So, when that promotion ended, the cost went from about $5 a month to over $20. I had called to cancel and was given a $10 option, and told it was the least expensive option. Now I’m being offered a $5 option again, and wouldn’t I like to remain a loyal and valued customer? When I asked what the difference was, I had it returned to me that I CHOSE the $10 plan, but that was because no other cheaper plan had been offered at the time. The rationale: this $5 plan is a promotion available as of June 15th."

"Company places random amounts of customers who’ve purchased products in a random past amount of hours to pressure customers into purchasing their products."

"Apparently monthly subscriptions, but you are signed up for a year. Cancelling early results in a 50% of remaining months subscriptions being applied as a cancellation charge."

"The radio buttons on their cookie opt-out are confusing. The sliders are a white button on a blue background. The initial position seems to indicate that the cookies are active – the white dots are slid to the left of the button. Sliding them to the right adds a checkmark to the button, and there is no clear indication whether you have opted out or opted in by the checkmark. Scrolling up, you can see that mandatory cookies are greyed out with a checkmark in the box, indicating that a checkmark indicates an opt-in."

"This company makes it impossible to stop withdrawal from accounts or to cancel subscriptions – the ability to do so via their website is somehow always broken, and when I attempt to contact the phone line hold times are excessive, and I feel guilted by the customer service person into keeping my subscriptiions."

"Trivial self-service subscription through website Deceptive subscription cancelation process. Appears as a simple button press, followed by a screen asking for confirmation and an option to select a reason from a set of choices. This does not cancel a subscription but presents three options: Contact customer support by phone, contact customer support by live chat, or keep the subscription. The live chat option was a needlessly drawn out series of retention tactics, while requests to confirm cancelation were ignored. A ~1 minute subscription process is countered by a nearly 20 minute chat. The account management page design gives the strong appearance of trying to provide assurance that cancelation is as easy as updating other details. If the process had been disclosed up front its unlikely I’d have subscribed at all."

"Unsubscribing is advertised as easy to do online, yet it is impossible. The unsubscribe button leads to a blank screen, giving the impression that perhaps it worked. But it definitely does not and I am continually charged. I called the provided phone number, but the person who answered cannot unsubscribe me, they just send my “request” to the company. The link shows how it is supposed to work, the screenshot shows how it does not work."

"HBR subscriptions auto-renew and the site does not have a way to cancel the renewal; you have to call customer service."

"The Chicago Tribune allows you to establish a subscription online (quite easily) and even manage your subscription address, vacation holds, and report missed papers online. HOWEVER, they do not allow you to cancel your subscription online, this requires a phone call and only when their customer service center is open. They will also try to dissuade you from canceling by not honoring your request (eg. “I’m going to go ahead and leave this active for your convenience and then you can call next month to cancel”) even if trying to prevent rebilling."

"Misleading language. The bike-share service has a “day pass” when in fact it’s only 90 minutes that you have to use within a 24 hour period."

A screenshot of an unnamed travel website shows numerous dark patterns in use.

"Just seen a @Nike ad on Instagram advertising Air Max Plus for £99.95 on the Nike app. Download the app and they’re “Older Kids” shoes - the adult ones are the usual £164.95. Deffo intentionally misleading - they know what they’re doing"

This appears to be Argos partnering with @completesave.

"For context: following a dialogue with @EU_Commission & national consumer authorities, Amazon agreed to make changes to its Prime cancellation procedure in July 2022"

"@Starbucks @TrustArc proof that it doesn't have to take almost a minute to set client side cookies. In the first run I've crippled the timeout, the second run is stock."

"Wow, solid dark pattern here by Samsung: the option on the bottom —reminiscent of a regular “I have read this” prompt— auto-checks the marketing box as well. This is why people don’t trust brands. Don’t do this to your customers the moment they sign up. All potential trust lost."

This appears to be an example of the IAB's controversial "Transparency and Consent Framework".

"We usually expect a $2000 bill per month from Figma, but in July this year, we got a bill for about $20,000 which came to us as a shock..."

Unlike platform ads (contracts between brands-platforms), native ads often have off-platform supply chains. While platforming the latter might be a transparency gain (esp under DSA registration), here TikTok is just playing with performance indicators. The medium is the message

The FTC accused Credit Karma of “deploying dark patterns” to mislead consumers into believing they were pre-approved and had “90% odds” to coax them into applying for credit cards, according to a news release. Nearly a third of users who applied to the “pre-approved” offers were ultimately denied.

An example of the "hard to cancel" dark pattern.

Nextdoor UK uses trick wording and misdirection, making it difficult for a user to understand how to unsubscribe.

After a user pays for Dominos Pizza (UK), they are shown a deceptive ad that looks like a "Continue" button when in fact it's a monthly subscription plan.

"There’s a spectrum of behavior — some of which is just smart business and tech practices, and some of which is more nefarious. But using the term “dark patterns” to broadly describe anything that we don’t understand, or can’t see that is designed to get you to do something… becomes problematic pretty quickly. "

Do not browse the web in in-app browsers (e.g. in apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok). Experience is bad. Those apps also INJECT TRACKING INSTRUCTIONS. They control every interaction, all that is typed, clicked... Browse with normal web browsers.

Nice cookie selection dark pattern from Sedo to start the morning.

"Still raising cash off stealing Top Secret documents."

"How nice of you to hide the unsubscribe link"

The FTC wants Amazon to fork over any disappearing messages that executives used to discuss Prime.The federal agency has been probing Amazon over potentially misleading tactics used to get people to subscribe. Insider reported in March that Amazon execs were worried customers felt tricked into signing up but did nothing.

Wow, didn't know you could pay to continue your broken streak on Duolingo. Not sure how I feel about this.

Luton airport website shows a disguised ad. It appears to be a "continue" button leading on from the checkout, but in fact tricks users into subscribing to a totally unrelated service.

Treatwell uses trick questions - alternating sentiment for its checkbox labels - to trick users into agreeing to emails or tracking.

"Last month we had debit card fraud, where bank sent us new card. [...] Meanwhile, everything Amazon shut down for us. Amazon, Alexa, smart thermometers. Worst of all - the last season of #BetterCallSaul, which I *paid* for."

Noticed my Skype client on the iPad started doing this sneaky crap where when you open the app it presents a prompt that asks you to approve sharing all your contacts w/ Skype. And there's no visible way to say "no."

"this is a gross dark pattern from ⁦@thefarmersdog⁩. you have to affirm the marketing material before you’re allowed to see a price."

'"We use A/B testing to optimize nearly everything related to our products, from new gamification features, to our learning content, to our Super [Duolingo] purchase page design, and even to the notifications that learners receive as reminders to do their lessons," said von Ahn'

"you can't actually drill into and read reviews which makes assessing the actual quality of the restaurant difficult. And I've found that restaurants will run their own "ghost kitchen" shadow restaurant out of their main (poorly rated) location."

"fun lil deceptive UI pattern from (apparently desperate) F*cebook this morning: I updated my phone & shortly after got a push notification from FB - I’ve had those turned entirely off for at least 3-4 years! so I go spelunking in the settings…"

"Such unclear langage is probably not GDPR compliant. What is really happening when I click on “Reject All” and then “Accept”? I hope it’s not a dark pattern to force me to “accept” your cookies."

"AKA “We will automatically uncheck your stated preferences and ruin your experience once a month until we wear you down and you stop manually re-checking them.”"

Gumtree UK provides a "one click" opt-in for ad tracking, yet requires dozens of clicks to opt out.

In this example, Gumtree UK makes it very hard for users to opt out of ad tracking.

"HP at it again: Have to create an account to scan a document."

"LAST CHANCE... We won't email you again." (I got 10 more messages in the next seven hours.) It says I need to "RENEW" a membership I never had in the first place. Fake urgency of final contact to nudge action.

BeyondMenu used the email subject line "Your Friday reservation is confirmed..." - which was likely to alarm users, none of whom had made a reservation. When opened, the email reads "Your reservation is confirmed with your couch... Order now"

"boa página para quem clica em "editar subscrição" no fim do vosso email não solicitado porque tem outras newsletters que quer manter, @expresso" (Portuguese language example).

"Signed up for the @BostonGlobe to read an article. Article was 'meh', so wanted to cancel my sub. Cannot do it online, have to call. The agent tells me: 'You can't cancel the first 24 hours because you'll only show up in the system after...'"

"It's easy to dunk on Adobe software quality, I know. But I hit "Save" in Illustrator and got this hilariously huge cloudsell."

"...the changes seem in line with its intention to move away from its original model of photo sharing among friends, to the one pioneered by TikTok: showing as much algorithmically targeted video content as possible and juicing engagement wherever practical."

Udemy employs the 'fake countdown timer' dark pattern.

"The wildest part is that this approach by Apple is actually a concession to appease various antitrust investigations around the world. Instead of rejecting Netflix’s app or forcing them to give Apple 30% at least now Apple just scares users. How gracious."

Professor Jonathan Zittrain replies: "A printer self-bricking after awhile is a great example of 'you think you bought a product, but you really rented a service.'"

"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.

"When I canceled, and then requested a refund, I was told to follow instructions (reactivate, click click click click etc.) to get a refund. The instructions are misleading and did not work. Here’s the entire thread in a screenshot: https://www.fficient.com/screenshots/screenshot34620220413.png – also attached. I still don’t have a refund, but I pointed out to them the darkness of their alleged refund process. Hoping they clean things up. But they likely won’t without pressure."

"They force users to deceit their new and unacceptable license agreement, and consider keeping using their services (staying vague in what exactly describe “using their services”) imply agreeing to said licence update. I can’t find the time to save the content I own that is hosted on YouTube to delete it, I have no guarantee they won’t keep a copy and no way of checking, I have no way to just disagreeing to this new license."

"This company allows you to subscribe online, but to cancel you must call during business hours."

"You MUST talk to a live agent to cancel your account. Once you are connected with a live agent, they ask you many times about why you want to cancel and they try to sell another promotional rate. They put you on hold for a long time. I have had three different subscriptions over the course of several years and it’s ALWAYS the same tactic."

"The cancellation flow is the worst I’ve seen from a large international company. They require you to click through 3-4 screens that attempt to communicate the “value” of the product (pretty standard). As you progress through the cancellation workflow, the button for continuing with cancellation is deemphasized, while a button that takes you out of the cancellation workflow is featured very prominently. This was frustrating, but unfortunately, is all too common these days. Once you get through this workflow, you reach a page that requires you to call a number or live chat someone between 8am and 6pm EST to complete the cancellation. Because I tried to cancel on a Sunday, I had to go through the process again on a Monday morning. When I got in contact with a customer support rep through the live chat, I expected to be able to cancel with a simple, “I would like to cancel.” In response to this, they took 3 minutes to reply, and then asked if I really wanted to cancel, because I may get value out of other parts of the product. This sort of “value reminder” response happened three times before I was finally able to cancel. In total, I had to have a 10+ minute conversation with the customer support rep before they canceled my subscription."

"In order to cancel my subscription, I had to either call them or interact with their chat bot."

"Sometimes, while using the Twitter android app, you’ll randomly be asked to opt in for personalized ads without a clear button to deny them and no way to exit out of the prompt (not even by the system’s back button!) until you drag the prompt up, uncovering a small “Keep less relevant ads” text button. Video of it in action: https://twitter.com/BoredmanDA/status/1326907483848396802"

"I signed up online for short-term, low-priced subscription, but automatic subscription renewal cannot be cancelled online. You have to phone in the cancel, wait for a long time on hold (25 minutes into the call for me before anyone answered) and resist repeated and varied upselling tactics."

"To read an online article without a subscription, a pop-up requires you to submit an email address. But the user is also signing up for spam from National Geographic AND its parent, Disney, as well as agreeing to the terms of service and privacy policy. There is no separate mechanism for just reading the article or agreeing to those terms."

"I thought I had been directed to the Free File tax option for their website. I went through the entire process of filling out information for my federal return only to be told that I would have to ‘upgrade’ to their deluxe option at a cost of $55 in order to also add a form that is necessary to submit in order to reconcile my premium tax credit received for my health insurance premiums. I was unable to continue with my filing without paying and was left to start over on a separate Free File website that allowed me to fill out and submit the additional form at no charge."

"I was playing a Facebook game and an ad popped up. I ordered the beautiful rattan sofa bed for my porch, on clearance for $19.99 with expedited shipping for $30 more. What I received was an ugly scratchy pillowcase that wasn’t even listed and the package was not expedited."

"When selecting the lowest fare for any flight and clicking “continue”, a pop-up shows up telling that “You selected selected our most limited fare” and “recommends” to upgrade. The options given are “Change my fare” in a huge red button on the right corner (how and where normally continue buttons are in the site), and “I accept the restrictions on the Basic Fare” in a small text link on the left corner. This is not only tricky but also makes you feel a little shame and discomfort."

"I posted an ad on the website looking for a housekeeper. They send you an email saying someone has applied to your job but the only way you can view the application is if you sign up for a monthly subscription"

"It is difficult to cancel your subscription as you have to call a phone number to cancel. Furthermore, in order to participate in a free trial, you must subscribe to a paid subscription. Finally, while it says 14-day free trial, they will charge you through auto-renew if you don’t call two days before making the trial a 12-day trial instead of a 14-day one."

"Blue Apron intentionally makes any attempts to pause their subscription service apparently temporary, while also forcing the user to email their team in order to cancel a membership, not offering any clear way to cancel their membership via account services in their webpage."

"When downloading the free version of Adobe Reader, it always pre-checks the boxes to install McAfee antivirus at the same time. They aren’t related products! To install antivirus on someone’s system without authorization is unethical and unacceptable."

"Signing up for their membership program was easy. But I was just charged for a second completely unused year after working hard to cancel the subscription a year ago. You also can’t reach anyone for customer support. By the way when you go to unsubscribe the button is greyed out and inactivated."