{"id":33593,"date":"2022-12-25T08:25:35","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T02:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=33593"},"modified":"2025-04-19T23:47:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T18:17:29","slug":"what-are-dark-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-are-dark-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Dark Patterns?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Background of Dark Patterns<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>How do dark patterns work?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Examples of Dark Patterns\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>How do dark patterns affect users?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>India\u2019s Approach to manage dark patterns<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Countless popular websites and apps, from retailers and travel services to social media companies, make use of so-called \u201cdark patterns,\u201d or gently coercive design tactics that critics say are used to manipulate peoples\u2019 digital behaviors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Background of Dark Patterns<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The term \u201cdark patterns\u201d was coined by <strong>Harry Brignull<\/strong>, a U.K.-based user experience specialist and researcher of human-computer interactions.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>He used the term to describe the ways in which <strong>software can subtly trick users into doing things they didn\u2019t mean to do<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>He has been working to catalogue such patterns and the companies using them since around 2010.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do dark patterns work?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Dark patterns refer to a user interface that has been crafted to trick or manipulate users into making choices that are detrimental to their interest.<\/li>\n<li>It is mostly prevalent while buying a product or service online.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>A consumer is tricked into buying a more expensive product, paying more than what was initially disclosed, sharing data or making choices based on false or paid-for reviews by deploying \u2018dark patterns\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Examples of Dark Patterns\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Social media companies and Big Tech \ufb01rms such as Apple, Amazon, Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Google use dark or deceptive patterns to downgrade the user experience to their advantage.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>To understand how dark patterns work, the following examples will be helpful \u2013\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Amazon<\/strong> came under \ufb01re in the EU for its confusing, <strong>multi-step cancelling process in Amazon Prime subscription<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>After communicating with consumer regulators, Amazon this year made its cancellation process easier for online customers in European countries.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>LinkedIn<\/strong> users often receive unsolicited, sponsored messages from in\ufb02uencers.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Disabling this option is a di\ufb03cult process with multiple steps<\/strong> that requires users to be familiar with the platform controls.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>As Meta-owned <strong>Instagram<\/strong> pivots to video-based content to compete against TikTok, users have complained that <strong>they are being shown suggested posts they did not wish to see<\/strong> and that they were unable to permanently set preferences.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Google-owned <strong>YouTube<\/strong> nags users to sign up for YouTube Premium with pop-ups, obscuring \ufb01nal seconds of a video with thumbnails of other videos \u2014 a way of disrupting what should have been an otherwise smooth user experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How do dark patterns affect users?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Dark patterns endanger the experience of Internet users and make them more vulnerable to \ufb01nancial and data exploitation by Big Tech \ufb01rms.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Dark patterns confuse users, introduce online obstacles, make simple tasks time-consuming, have users sign up for unwanted services\/products, and force them to pay more money or share more personal information than they intended.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] has taken note of dark patterns and the risks they pose.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In a report released in September this year, the regulatory body listed over 30 dark patterns, many of which are considered standard practice across social media platforms and e-commerce sites.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>These include \u201cbaseless\u201d countdowns for online deals, conditions in \ufb01ne print that add on to costs, making cancellation buttons hard to see or click, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Dark and deceptive patterns don\u2019t just stop with laptops and smartphones.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The FTC report has warned that as <strong>augmented reality<\/strong> (AR) and <strong>virtual reality<\/strong> (VR) platforms and devices grow in usage, dark patterns will likely follow users to these new channels as well.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Internet users who are able to identify and recognize dark patterns in their daily lives can choose more user-friendly platforms that will respect their right to choose and privacy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>India\u2019s Approach to manage dark patterns<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Advertising Standards Council of India<\/strong> (ASCI), a self-regulatory body of the advertising industry in India, recently said that it wants to expand its code to address concerns around \u2018dark patterns\u2019 in digital advertising.<\/li>\n<li>ASCI said nearly a third of advertisements it processed in FY22, were disguised by influencers as regular content, which is also a part of dark patterns in advertising.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The ASCI has formed a task-force to look into the issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is another name for dark pattern?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Dark patterns are also called Deceptive design patterns. The term \u201cdark patterns\u201d was first coined by UX specialist Harry Brignull.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is difference between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>AR uses a real-world setting while VR is completely virtual. AR users can control their presence in the real world; VR users are controlled by the system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbctv18.com\/technology\/dark-patterns-manipulating-customers-in-digital-advertising-says-self-regulatory-body-15136091.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>&#8216;Dark patterns&#8217; manipulating customers in digital advertising, says self-regulatory body<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/how-to-spot-avoid-dark-patterns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Wired<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VlKBbp6UhvY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>WION<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Video:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VlKBbp6UhvY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VlKBbp6UhvY<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A dark pattern is a way in which software can subtly trick users into doing things they didn\u2019t mean to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}