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Related papers: Privately Policing Dark Patterns

200 papers

Dark patterns utilize interface elements to trick users into performing unwanted actions. Online shopping websites often employ these manipulative mechanisms so as to increase their potential customer base, to boost their sales, or to…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2021-07-19 Christian Voigt , Stephan Schlögl , Aleksander Groth

Dark patterns are (evil) design nudges that steer people's behaviour through persuasive interface design. Increasingly found in cookie consent requests, they possibly undermine principles of EU privacy law. In two preregistered online…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2025-09-24 Paul Graßl , Hanna Schraffenberger , Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius , Moniek Buijzen

Dark patterns in mobile apps take advantage of cognitive biases of end-users and can have detrimental effects on people's lives. Despite growing research in identifying remedies for dark patterns and established solutions for desktop…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2021-02-24 Konrad Kollnig , Siddhartha Datta , Max Van Kleek

Dark patterns have emerged as a set of methods to exploit cognitive biases to trick users to make decisions that are more aligned with a third party than to their own. These patterns can have consequences that might range from inconvenience…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2021-05-20 Daniel Capurro , Eduardo Velloso

Interest in unethical user interfaces has grown in HCI over recent years, with researchers identifying malicious design strategies referred to as ''dark patterns''. While such strategies have been described in numerous domains, we lack a…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2023-05-23 Thomas Mildner , Merle Freye , Gian-Luca Savino , Philip R. Doyle , Benjamin R. Cowan , Rainer Malaka

Today's largest technology corporations, especially ones with consumer-facing products such as social media platforms, use a variety of unethical and often outright illegal tactics to maintain their dominance. One tactic that has risen to…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2026-05-14 Michelle Nie

Deceptive UI designs, widely instantiated across the web and commonly known as dark patterns, manipulate users into performing actions misaligned with their goals. In this paper, we show that dark patterns are highly effective in steering…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2026-02-09 Phil Cuvin , Hao Zhu , Diyi Yang

Current dark pattern research tells designers what not to do, but how do they know what to do? In contrast to prior approaches that focus on patterns to avoid and their underlying principles, we present a framework grounded in positive…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2024-03-05 Evan Caragay , Katherine Xiong , Jonathan Zong , Daniel Jackson

The dark patterns, deceptive interface designs manipulating user behaviors, have been extensively studied for their effects on human decision-making and autonomy. Yet, with the rising prominence of LLM-powered GUI agents that automate tasks…

User engagement with data privacy and security through consent banners has become a ubiquitous part of interacting with internet services. While previous work has addressed consent banners from either interaction design, legal, and…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2021-02-05 Colin M. Gray , Cristiana Santos , Nataliia Bielova , Michael Toth , Damian Clifford

The problem of ``Dark Patterns" in user interface/user experience (UI/UX) design has proven a difficult issue to tackle. Malicious and explotitative design has expanded to multiple domains in the past 10 years and which has in turn led to…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2024-02-27 Frank Lewis , Julita Vassileva

Deceptive/Manipulative Patterns (DMP) are interface designs, also known as ``dark patterns,'' that manipulate user behavior. While considerable attention has been paid to their ethical and legal implications, empirical evidence about their…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2026-04-20 Brennan Schaffner , Luis Heysen , Marshini Chetty

This study explores the prevalence of dark patterns in mobile games that exploit players through temporal, monetary, social, and psychological means. Recognizing the ethical concerns and potential harm surrounding these manipulative…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2024-12-09 Sam Niknejad , Thomas Mildner , Nima Zargham , Susanne Putze , Rainer Malaka

As LLM-driven agents begin to autonomously navigate the web, their ability to interpret and respond to manipulative interface design becomes critical. A fundamental question that emerges is: can such agents reliably recognize patterns of…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2026-03-05 Chen Sun , Yash Vekaria , Rishab Nithyanand

The phenomenon described as "information criminality" has taken significant proportions in the last decade, fact that carried out towards an international legislative frame, by implementing judicial forms, which might stop its occurrences.…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2010-03-25 C. Filote , G. Nemtoi

Dark patterns in user interfaces represent deceptive design practices intended to manipulate users' behavior, often leading to unintended consequences such as coerced purchases, involuntary data disclosures, or user frustration. Detecting…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2024-12-20 Aliyu Umar , Maaruf Lawan , Adamu Lawan , Abdullahi Abdulkadir , Mukhtar Dahiru

Mobile apps used by children often make use of harmful techniques, such as data tracking and targeted advertising. Previous research has suggested that developers face several systemic challenges in designing apps that prioritise children's…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2023-06-05 Anirudh Ekambaranathan , Jun Zhao , Max Van Kleek

As digital interfaces become increasingly prevalent, certain manipulative design elements have emerged that may harm user interests, raising associated ethical concerns and bringing dark patterns into focus as a significant research topic.…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2024-12-13 Meng Li , Xiang Wang , Liming Nie , Chenglin Li , Yang Liu , Yangyang Zhao , Lei Xue , Kabir Sulaiman Said

Mobile apps bring us many conveniences, such as online shopping and communication, but some use malicious designs called dark patterns to trick users into doing things that are not in their best interest. Many works have been done to…

Human-Computer Interaction · Computer Science 2024-12-02 Jieshan Chen , Jiamou Sun , Sidong Feng , Zhenchang Xing , Qinghua Lu , Xiwei Xu , Chunyang Chen

Protecting personal information privacy has become a controversial issue among online social network providers and users. Most social network providers have developed several techniques to decrease threats and risks to the users privacy.…

Social and Information Networks · Computer Science 2013-05-14 Nahier Aldhafferi , Charles Watson , A. S. M Sajeev