Deceptive patterns are annoying, manipulative, unethical, but unfortunately legal… or are they?

It turns out that, in recent years, governments around the world have become aware of the damaging nature of deceptive patterns — obstruction, nagging, sneaky pre-selections — and have addressed or even outright banned these practices.

Sometimes referred to as “dark patterns,” deceptive design patterns are meant to be, you guessed it, deceptive. They are design choices that prompt the user to do something that benefits the company or product, rather than the user themself, essentially violating a user’s autonomy. Deceptive patterns are meant to distort a user’s decision making process with tricky UX.

They are deliberately misleading, confusing, and disappointingly common.

• confirm shaming (ex. “No thanks, I don’t want to save 20% by signing up today.”)
• more prominence is given…