How wrong becomes normal

"You open your streaming service to cancel a subscription. What should take one click sends you through six pages and a 30-minute wait for customer service. You encounter fifteen different options, each one trying to convince you to say. "Are you sure you want to cancel?" "What about a discount?" "Consider pausing instead?" By the time you reach the final confirmation, you're exhausted. These barriers are placed intentionally."

"This is a dark pattern, a design choice made to manipulate you into taking an action that is against your interests. Dark patterns are deceptive interface designs that trick users into doing things they didn't intend. They exploit psychology, urgency, and friction to benefit companies at the expense of users. When cookie consent banners launched with GDPR in 2018, designers and users alike criticized the manipulative tactics. Reject buttons were hidden. Accept buttons were bright and prominent. The designs violated the spirit of the law."

Dark patterns are intentional interface choices that manipulate users into actions that benefit companies at users' expense by exploiting psychology, urgency, and added friction. Common examples include obstructive cancellation flows that force many steps and long waits, persuasive multi-option prompts to retain subscriptions, and deceptive cookie consent banners with hidden reject buttons and prominent accept buttons. Such designs undermine meaningful consent, reduce user autonomy, and prioritize short-term conversion over ethical user experience. Identifying and avoiding dark patterns supports transparent, user-centered design and helps regulators enforce protections like those intended by GDPR.

Read at Medium