Hall of shame

"I donated to one candidate once. Now, I’m on dozens of candidates’ mailing lists and have to unsubscribe from each of them individually."

"Second page when you sign a petition asks you to “confirm” your signature; if you do not actively *uncheck* an already-checked box, you have just added yourself to one or a bunch of mailing lists. So, the pre-check masquerades as an opt-in, but effectively you need to take an action to opt out."

"My father’s email account gets emails from this site often – filling his inbox with unwanted junk. At one point in the past, he may have subscribed. Now, he can not unsubscribe. The link to “Unsubscribe” on the bottom of the email leads to a non-existent page."

"In their cookie declaration there is no option to finalize your selection. Cookie window also significantly blocks window unless you select “Accept”."

"Cookie settings page has selection sliders for non-essential cookies, on or off, but the only button available to choose cookie settings is ‘Accept all cookies’"

"When adding a set of patio furniture to the cart it automatically chooses the delivery and assembly option and they also automatically apply a 5 year protection plan which adds on additional unseen costs onto the original price."

"Does not allow you to cancel your subscription online and makes vague references to safety and security of your home in order to make sure you have to interact with a sales representative who will pressure you into keeping your subscription. You have to call to cancel the subscription."

"My wife sent me a referral email for Crypto.com which is a cryptocurrency trading platform and cryptocurrency wallet. The invitation code indicates that when you “refer a friend now and you both get $25, with each successful sign-up and a valid transaction.” So, I signed up, gave them my personal information (including a photo of myself and my driver’s license as part of their verification system) and found out that many hoops have to be jumped through in order to get the $25 reward."

"Upon returning clothing from Everlane, the return receipt first instructed me to click ‘Add my Return Credit’ below to activate my Return Credit for use on Everlane.com so I would use the money to shop their site instead of getting a refund to my credit card. Way at the bottom of the email, they offer a refund to the original payment method as a last choice."

"They advertise merchandise at really low prices. However, when you put the merchandise in your cart, that is not the price at all and the shipping costs/extraneous fees are very high."

"The company runs promotions often, and one I encountered recently was particularly frustrating: there was a super weekend sale, but any items you added to your shopping cart would only be on reserve for 1 hour. Several manipulative tactics were at play here: you end up spending more time on the platform searching for more great deals; you rush to add more items to your shopping cart before they get snatched up; you get notifications that your shopping cart is about to expire and if it does, you have to go back and re-add your item(s); eventually, you will probably just go ahead and purchase one item at a time – after all, you have the option to ‘bundle’ your purchases and get free shipping if you spend over $79; if you do get suckered to making piecemeal purchases, the enticing free shipping that’s just a couple items away makes you look for even more items to purchase; did I mention the 1-hour timer that gives you that black-friday-rush-into-the-store-to-score-that-one-tv-on-super-sale feeling? Awful."

"Initial prices shown on the map are markedly inflated by added fees when one is ready to book the lodging. They should show the total price including fees on their map listings."

"I bought a new bed from Pottery Barn and I bought it as a “guest”, so I didn’t sign up for marketing emails. The thing was, that there wasn’t even a way to not sign up for said emails at checkout. The only way to get rid of them was to unsubscribe from the emails after I received them."

"This is an Email and VPN provider; If you cancel your subscription it will be canceled with immediate effect, and the remainder of the month will be given back to you as “credits”, which you’re supposed to spend on some of their services at some point."

"It is hard to stop the donation. There’s no online option to cancel recurring donations. You have to call them during work hours."

"Difficult to cancel the annual fee for free shipping (the “passport”) which I thought I had canceled but that I’ve paid unwittingly for the last two years without catching it. It cannot be done online at the 1800Flowers website. A call to customer service involves many repeated questions, long holds, and a sales attempt, i.e. 43 minutes to get them to agree that the annual charge was canceled and won’t be repeated."

"I tried to stop my subscription, and found it was impossible to do so from the website. They require you to put a hold on your plan or call in customer service; there’s no way to stop the plan without calling them in. After I initially emailed them, it took several strongly worded emails before they finally put my plan on hold. Their emails kept referring me back to the website, where, again it was impossible to do anything."

"Once you subscribe (which you can do online) to one of their plans, you cannot then cancel the plan or edit it in any way online. Instead, they make you email or call in and their hours are very very limited."

"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!)

"This game is available on the iOS App Store for free but cannot be played without signing up for a subscription or free trial. You do not even get to play the game to decide if you want to subscribe before being forced to subscribe."

"Their website offers free 14 day free trials that require you to enter your credit card information and promise that you can cancel at any time. Once you are signed up however you are unable to remove your credit card information and have to call a hotline in order to cancel. This hotline has long wait times and repeatedly drops your call. This is the only way to cancel."

"They often have promotions (2 pants for $24 or 70% off), but when you click, you sign up for VIP membership that has a monthly fee."

"The “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link from the bottom of the homepage leads to a window where the default state is to “Sell My Personal Information On This Site Using Cookies.” However, the toggle button is unclear – because it is not labelled, it is not immediately obvious whether it is in the “on” or “off” state. Plus, even after toggling the button, you have to remember to click the “Confirm My Choices” button or changes to the setting will not be saved. Note that this link is for California residents only per the 2020 CCPA legislation."

"Every account function but service cancellation is available online. To cancel you must make a phone call."

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.

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)"

"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.

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.

"When I try to Amazon Subscription delivery it shows this prompt trying to convince me otherwise by first giving other choices like to delay delivery, then by asking why I want to cancel it and only then the actual button to cancel."

"Automatically opts you in to receive “prescreened” credit card offers, and makes it very difficult to opt out."

"When a subscriber to the magazine logs in, the opening page is overlaid with a “COOKIES” notice which requires approval before content is displayed. In this notice, if one reads far enough, it is disclosed that your browsing and other information is conveyed (sold) to others who may be interested in marketing to the viewer. There is no simple right of refusal to this. One can only abandon the session."

"When selecting a Basic Economy flight, Delta (unnecessarily) asks you to “Review Your Choice.” However, the confirmation of the choice is very misleading. The upgrade option, “Main Cabin,” does not have an upgrade-sounding name. Furthermore, it is presented as the default option alongside a big red button. Conversely, the option to maintain Basic Economy is confusingly presented as “Accept Restrictions,” and appears underneath in much smaller letters next to a checkbox. The words “Continue with Basic Economy,” which is ostensibly intended to clarify what “Accept Restrictions” means, appear next to “Accept Restrictions” in a light-gray text (lighter than “Accept Restrictions”) that is difficult to notice. In the past, because of the presentation, I have accidentally upgraded to Main Cabin when I intended to remain in Basic Economy."

"When opting in/out of cookies/ personalised advertising, the built in dialogue box disguises many choices as ‘legitimite interest’ – after hiding the cookie options behind a misleading dialogue box with only an ‘options’ button – no intuative way for inexperienced people to disable cookies."

"SurveyMonkey forces you to pay to see your responses. This is not communicated upfront on trial and this has been reported by many users on Twitter."

"This dark pattern takes the form of a “gift” button, conveniently placed right by the message text bar in which one types messages on the mobile app. Hitting this button inadvertently will take you to a page on which you can purchase a Nitro subscription to gift to someone in the channel. The button is located right where the “gif” button used to be, and many people have reported issues with its placement — yet the company has done nothing. I’m sure they’ve made money off of this inconvenience."

"Ordering from their site or registering for a warranty signs you for a slew of emails. Their unsubscribe form says “Receive request emails to write reviews after you make purchases from this site” with a Yes/No option, but the trick thing is “unsubscribe” is just above the Yes/No option in much smaller font. So it’s likely you’ll answer “No” to the statement, but you’re really saying “No” to unsubscribing."

"When walking through the checkout workflow near the end you are bombarded with multiple offers for other products(kind of like the impulse buy before checkout in a physical store). When adding the impulse to your cart you are taken directly to the finalized sale and not to your cart for verification of quantity. In my case I wanted to try an additional product but had a quantity of 3 added and charged to my credit card. The other dark pattern is that they say you get free shipping in the emails and on the page but then you learn that to get said shipping you have to sign up and pay for VIP to get free shipping."

"A link to unsubscribe from reviewing a purchased Shutterfly product goes to https://preferences.powerreviews.com where your choices for two separate opt-out choices are “yes” and “no” with labels that contradict each other e.g. “Receive request emails to write reviews after you make purchases on this site.” and “unsubscribe.” This is clearly intentional obfuscation."

"When playing Wordscapes, the online game forces the user to click “allow” to permit personalized advertising in order to continue playing the game. This dark pattern was originally posted on Reddit in May 2021."

"The app automatically puts their recommended service into the shopping cart without the buyer’s consent, thereby adding an unknown cost. The dark pattern was captured directly from NordVPN.com’s shopping checkout page on May 5, 2021."

"The Weather Network app asks for permission to “track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites” but uses the rationale that the app “helps saves lives” to persuade the user to not block tracking. This dark pattern was publicly posted via Twitter ."

"Upon setting up a new PC, this popup asks if I would like to browse the web using Microsoft Edge. The “Get Started” button is highlighted in blue while the “Maybe later” option is grayed out, nudging me to use the platform with colors."

"Upon setting up a new computer, this advertisement popped up showing a service to protect against dangerous hackers, viruses and more. “Get protection” was highlighted an emphasized as the primary button option. Very small, linked underneath read “Accept risk,” which shamed me to continue without buying their service."

"This company put a captcha on their unsubscribe page, increasing the amount of work a person must do before they unsubscribe. This dark pattern was posted publicly on Twitter by @Diwann."

"Instead of providing a direct button to cancel your subscription, a person must chat with a customer care advocate or call the company within certain business hours to cancel. This dark pattern was publicly shared on Twitter by @melanie_seibert ."

"This company mentions the shopper has a right to opt out of cookies. The toggle ON by default is not clear whether the person has decided to opt in or opt out of these cookies that collect information. This screenshot was shared publicly on Twitter by @arensb in March 2021."

"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

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

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 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."

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.