[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":228},["ShallowReactive",2],{"learn-\u002Flearn\u002Fwhat-are-dark-patterns":3,"learn-around-\u002Flearn\u002Fwhat-are-dark-patterns":223},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":197,"description":198,"draft":199,"extension":200,"meta":201,"navigation":202,"path":203,"publishedAt":204,"readingTime":205,"seo":206,"sources":207,"stem":220,"updatedAt":221,"__hash__":222},"learn\u002Flearn\u002Fwhat-are-dark-patterns.md","What are dark patterns? A plain-language field guide",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":179},"minimark",[9,13,16,21,29,32,40,44,47,50,53,56,60,65,68,72,75,79,82,86,89,93,102,106,109,113,116,119,122,125,129,132,166,169,173,176],[10,11,12],"p",{},"You meant to cancel. You ended up subscribed for another year. You meant to reject the cookies.\nYou ended up accepting all 847 \"partners\". You meant to buy one thing. There were three things\nin the basket at checkout.",[10,14,15],{},"You are not careless. The interface was built that way.",[17,18,20],"h2",{"id":19},"the-definition","The definition",[10,22,23,24,28],{},"A ",[25,26,27],"strong",{},"dark pattern"," is an interface deliberately designed to get you to do something you didn't\nmean to do — spend more, share more, or stay subscribed longer than you intended.",[10,30,31],{},"UX designer Harry Brignull coined the term in 2010, naming an initial set of twelve specific\ninterface tricks. The word stuck because it named something everyone had experienced but nobody\nhad a word for. It has since been written into European law through the Digital Services Act and\ninto US Federal Trade Commission enforcement guidance. Brignull himself now prefers \"deceptive\npatterns\", which is clearer about what is going on.",[10,33,34,35,39],{},"The key word is ",[36,37,38],"em",{},"deliberately",". A confusing checkout built by a rushed team is bad design. A\ncheckout where the \"no thanks\" link is grey, small, and below the fold is a decision somebody\nmade, tested, and kept because it worked.",[17,41,43],{"id":42},"why-they-work-on-you-specifically","Why they work on you, specifically",[10,45,46],{},"It is tempting to think this only happens to people who don't read carefully. That is not what\nthe research shows.",[10,48,49],{},"Nobody reads an interface the way they read a book. We skim for the thing we came to do, we\nfollow the brightest button, and we decide in under a second. Interfaces are designed around\nthose habits. A dark pattern doesn't defeat your intelligence; it exploits the gap between how\nfast you decide and how fast you could reason if you stopped to.",[10,51,52],{},"And stopping to reason isn't enough either. A 2021 study surveyed 406 people and found they were\ngenerally aware that manipulative designs influence their behaviour online — but being aware did\nnot equip them to resist it. Participants often recognised that a design was manipulative while\nremaining unsure what harm it would actually cause them. Knowing about the trap and being able to\nstep around it turn out to be two different skills.",[10,54,55],{},"That finding is the reason this tool exists. If awareness were sufficient, an article would be\nenough. It isn't. Help has to arrive at the moment of the decision.",[17,57,59],{"id":58},"the-common-types","The common types",[61,62,64],"h3",{"id":63},"confirmshaming","Confirmshaming",[10,66,67],{},"The opt-out is worded to make you feel bad. \"No thanks, I don't want to save money.\" \"I prefer\npaying full price.\" The decline option works perfectly well — it just costs you a small\nhumiliation to use it.",[61,69,71],{"id":70},"roach-motel","Roach motel",[10,73,74],{},"Easy to get in, hard to get out. Signing up takes one click and no confirmation. Cancelling takes\nfour screens, a retention offer, a phone call during office hours, and an email you have to\nreply to. The asymmetry is the tell: if creating an account is instant, deleting it can be\ninstant too.",[61,76,78],{"id":77},"fake-urgency","Fake urgency",[10,80,81],{},"\"Only 2 left!\" \"Offer ends in 09:58.\" Sometimes true, often not. The giveaway is a countdown that\nresets when you reload the page, or a scarcity notice that has said \"2 left\" for three weeks.\nReal scarcity is a fact about inventory. Fake urgency is a fact about the page.",[61,83,85],{"id":84},"sneaking","Sneaking",[10,87,88],{},"Something gets added that you didn't ask for. An extra item in the basket, insurance pre-selected\non a flight, a \"donation\" rounded up by default. Nothing is hidden exactly — it's simply placed\nwhere you have no reason to look.",[61,90,92],{"id":91},"obstruction","Obstruction",[10,94,95,96,101],{},"The path you want is made deliberately longer. The unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email\nin 6pt grey. The privacy settings spread across nine separate pages. The reject button one layer\ndeeper than the accept button, which is the specific version that shows up in\n",[97,98,100],"a",{"href":99},"\u002Flearn\u002Fcookie-banners-real-rejection","cookie banners",".",[61,103,105],{"id":104},"trick-wording","Trick wording",[10,107,108],{},"The sentence is constructed so the obvious reading is the wrong one. \"Uncheck this box if you do\nnot wish to not receive marketing emails.\" Read it twice. Now read it the way you would if you\nwere in a hurry.",[17,110,112],{"id":111},"how-common-is-this-really","How common is this, really?",[10,114,115],{},"Common enough that \"some apps do this\" understates it badly.",[10,117,118],{},"Researchers analysed 240 popular mobile apps in 2020 and found that 95% contained at least one\ndark pattern. The average app used at least seven different types. Not one trick per app — seven,\nlayered, in the apps most people have on their phones right now.",[10,120,121],{},"Regulators noticed. The FTC's September 2022 staff report, \"Bringing Dark Patterns to Light\",\ndocumented four tactics it sees most often: disguising ads as ordinary content, making\nsubscriptions hard to cancel, burying key terms and junk fees, and tricking people into handing\nover data. The report drew on cases across e-commerce, cookie consent banners, children's apps\nand subscription sales.",[10,123,124],{},"Enforcement is real but slow, and it works at the level of companies rather than the level of\nyour Tuesday evening.",[17,126,128],{"id":127},"how-to-spot-them","How to spot them",[10,130,131],{},"A few habits catch most of it:",[133,134,135,142,148,154,160],"ul",{},[136,137,138,141],"li",{},[25,139,140],{},"Compare the two buttons."," If yes and no are not the same size, colour, and weight, somebody\nhas a preference about your answer.",[136,143,144,147],{},[25,145,146],{},"Look for the asymmetry."," Count the clicks to opt in, then the clicks to opt out. That ratio\nis the whole story.",[136,149,150,153],{},[25,151,152],{},"Reload the page."," A countdown that starts over was never counting anything.",[136,155,156,159],{},[25,157,158],{},"Read the sentence with the checkbox twice."," Especially if it contains \"not\".",[136,161,162,165],{},[25,163,164],{},"Check the basket, not the product page."," Sneaking happens between the two.",[10,167,168],{},"None of this is difficult. It is just effortful, every time, on every site, forever — which is\nprecisely why almost nobody sustains it.",[17,170,172],{"id":171},"where-we-come-in","Where we come in",[10,174,175],{},"Can I Throw This? is being built to do the noticing for you. When a page uses a pattern from this\nguide, the extension names it in plain language, right where it happens — not in a report you\nread afterwards, but at the moment you were about to click.",[10,177,178],{},"It runs entirely on your device. Recognising a countdown timer doesn't require anyone to know\nwhat you were shopping for.",{"title":180,"searchDepth":181,"depth":181,"links":182},"",2,[183,184,185,194,195,196],{"id":19,"depth":181,"text":20},{"id":42,"depth":181,"text":43},{"id":58,"depth":181,"text":59,"children":186},[187,189,190,191,192,193],{"id":63,"depth":188,"text":64},3,{"id":70,"depth":188,"text":71},{"id":77,"depth":188,"text":78},{"id":84,"depth":188,"text":85},{"id":91,"depth":188,"text":92},{"id":104,"depth":188,"text":105},{"id":111,"depth":181,"text":112},{"id":127,"depth":181,"text":128},{"id":171,"depth":181,"text":172},"dark-patterns","A dark pattern is an interface designed to get you to do something you didn't mean to do. Here's how to recognise the common ones.",false,"md",{},true,"\u002Flearn\u002Fwhat-are-dark-patterns","2026-09-22",6,{"title":5,"description":198},[208,211,214,217],{"label":209,"url":210},"Di Geronimo et al., \"UI Dark Patterns and Where to Find Them\", CHI 2020","https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1145\u002F3313831.3376600",{"label":212,"url":213},"Bongard-Blanchy et al., \"I am definitely manipulated, even when I am aware of it\", DIS 2021","https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1145\u002F3461778.3462086",{"label":215,"url":216},"FTC staff report, \"Bringing Dark Patterns to Light\" (September 2022)","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.ftc.gov\u002Freports\u002Fbringing-dark-patterns-light",{"label":218,"url":219},"Deceptive Patterns (Harry Brignull)","https:\u002F\u002Fdeceptive.design\u002F","learn\u002Fwhat-are-dark-patterns",null,"kp2bgQrL45OUpDTnKGgsC4Hh3xJJhXE_ttLsJApwTmw",[224,221],{"title":225,"path":226,"stem":227,"children":-1},"Your ad blocker changed: the Manifest V3 story","\u002Flearn\u002Fmanifest-v3-your-adblocker","learn\u002Fmanifest-v3-your-adblocker",1790177868640]