The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conducted a study into the use of manipulative design techniques:
In an analysis of 642 websites and apps offering subscription services, the study found that the majority (nearly 76%) used at least one dark pattern and nearly 67% used more than one.
The report also arrives as the U.S. Department of Justice is suing Apple over its alleged App Store monopoly — a marketplace that generates billions in billings and sales for digital goods and services, including those that come through subscription apps.
The new report published Thursday dives into the many types of dark patterns like sneaking, obstruction, nagging, forced action, social proof and others.
Sneaking was among the most common dark patterns encountered in the study, referring to the inability to turn off the auto-renewal of subscriptions during the sign-up and purchase process. Eighty-one percent of sites and apps studied used this technique to ensure their subscriptions were renewed automatically. In 70% of cases, the subscription providers didn’t provide information on how to cancel a subscription, and 67% failed to provide the date by which a consumer needed to cancel in order to not be charged again.
Obstruction is another common one found in subscription apps; it makes it more difficult or tedious to take a certain action, like canceling a subscription or bypassing the sign-up for the free trial, where the “X” to close the offer is grayed out and somewhat hidden from view.
Nagging involves repeatedly asking the consumer to perform some sort of action that the business wants them to take.
Forced action means requiring the consumer to take some sort of step to access specific functionality, like filling out their payment details to participate in a free trial — something that 66.4% of the websites and apps in the study had required.
Interface interference is a broad category that refers to ways the app or website is designed to push the consumer to make a decision that’s favorable for a business. This could include things like pre-selecting items, like longer or more expensive subscriptions.
Interface interference could also involve something the study referred to as “confirmshaming” — meaning using language to evoke an emotion to manipulate the consumer’s decision-making process, like “I don’t want to miss out, subscribe me!” (Perez, 2024, paras. 1, 3-8, 12, 13)
Through my research, I had begun questioning the ethics of certain subscription strategies, but I was still taken aback to hear the majority of websites and apps offering services used at least one dark pattern, and most used more. How can we ensure a system that prompts self-growth in regards to the customer and not the business?
I had read a few articles on subscriptions attached to Apple’s App Store, but this was the first mention I heard of a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice launched against them for being a monopoly. Once this clears up, will we see a bunch of super apps rushing to the platform?
When thinking of how I could accidentally implement some of these dark patterns into financial planning, I made note to be cognizant of how incentivizing action can easily turn into nagging. I found that the concept of forced action related to my research of BMW’s heated seats or Apple Music, in which there is a demand set by the business for the customer to complete before accessing functionality.
I also have to be very mindful of interface interference, for how I lay out and provide information will influence a customer’s decision. If my goal is to enhance their own way of living, how does the interface reflect that? Is it manually customizable, or does it automatically personalize itself based on their data? How would we know this data is not compromised by dark patterns and informed by manipulative business tactics, rather than customers’ freewill?
References
Perez, S. (2024, July 10). FTC study finds ‘dark patterns’ used by a majority of subscription apps and websites. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/10/ftc-study-finds-dark-patterns-used-by-a-majority-of-subscription-apps-and-websites/?guccounter=1
