Dark patterns, also known as deceptive design or deceptive patterns, are essentially tricks. Websites and apps use dark patterns to manipulate users into making decisions they wouldn’t have otherwise ...

If you’ve ever had to call to cancel a subscription you signed up for online in seconds, uncheck a preselected agreement to receive ads in the mail or been tricked into upgrading to a premium economy ...

You open a free app to do one simple thing. Before you even start, a full-screen message asks whether you want to try the paid version. The “Start free trial” button is large, bright and hard to miss.

Do you ever find yourself wasting time trying to close a pushy pop-up? Or discover that you’re subscribed to something you don’t remember signing up for? These things happen to all of us when website ...

Dark patterns in Windows 11 quietly push ads, data tracking, and Microsoft services. In 2026, users should disable notification tips, ad IDs, diagnostic data, personalized search, Start menu and lock ...

When OpenAI rolled out its ChatGPT-4o update in mid-April 2025, users and the AI community were stunned—not by any groundbreaking feature or capability, but by something deeply unsettling: the updated ...

Digital design sounds innocuous enough. Dark patterns, less so. That’s the term for user interfaces which nudge or manipulate consumers into making choices they otherwise wouldn’t. You will recognise ...

If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to cancel an online subscription, or to deactivate an account on a website, you may have fallen prey to ‘dark patterns’. The Advertising Standards Authority ...

We collaborate with the world's leading lawyers to deliver news tailored for you. Sign Up for any (or all) of our 25+ Newsletters. Some states have laws and ethical rules regarding solicitation and ...

Have you ever found it impossible to find the “unsubscribe” button? Maybe you’ve accidentally opted into “accepting all cookies?” Then you may have fallen for a "dark pattern." Dark patterns are at ...

Dark patterns are web design features designed to trick users into sharing their data or spend more money. Watch out for tricks like hard-to-cancel subscriptions, hidden costs in the checkout process ...