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The regulator said a recent review underscores the ways dark pattern techniques may impact ‘not just consumers’ wallets but also their privacy choices’.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found a troubling pervasion of what is known as ‘dark patterns’ across many websites and apps that dupe consumers into buying their products or services.
The findings are the result of a review of 642 websites and mobile apps that offered subscription services from companies across the globe in multiple languages. It was conducted by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) in coordination with the Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN).
According to an FTC announcement this week, the review found that more than three-quarters (76pc) of the sites and apps employed at least one possible dark pattern, while nearly 67pc used multiple possible dark patterns.
The FTC noted that the review – conducted by authorities across 26 countries – did not report whether these identified practices were used in an unlawful way or violated the laws of the affected countries.
Dark patterns are deceptive design practices that have been crafted to intentionally trick us into doing things that are to the advantage of the supplier and, often, counter to our intentions. The term was first coined by user experience designer Harry Brignull.
In the review, the common forms of dark patterns involved sneaking practices, which is the hiding or delaying the disclosure of information that might affect a consumer’s purchase decision, and interface interference, the obscuring of important information or preselecting options that frame information in a way that steers consumers toward making decisions that are more favourable for the business.
“While there were no findings as to whether any of these instances rose to the level of law violations, the collaboration underscores the ways dark pattern techniques may impact not just consumers’ wallets but also their privacy choices,” the FTC said.
Prof Owen Conlan, a research lead at Adapt, the Science Foundation Ireland research centre focused on digital content, described dark patterns as something of “an online con artist” in an episode of the For Tech’s Sake podcast at the start of 2023. “Some of it can be deliberate activity to try and get more data from you,” he said, “and the other side might be just to try and upsell.”
The FTC has previously sued Amazon for using dark patterns in its business. In a complaint filed in June of last year, the FTC alleged that for years Amazon had enrolled consumers into its Prime programme without their consent “while knowingly making it difficult” for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.
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