The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with two other international consumer protection networks, released a study Thursday on the use of “dark patterns,” or manipulative design techniques, that can put users’ personal information at risk, force them to buy products or services, or take other actions they might not otherwise take. The analysis of 642 websites and apps offering subscription services found that most (about 76%) used at least one dark pattern, and about 67% used more than one.
Dark patterns are a variety of design techniques that can subtly encourage users to take certain actions or put their personal information at risk. They are particularly popular on subscription websites and apps, and have been an area of focus for the FTC over the past few years. For example, the FTC sued dating app giant Match for deceptive practices, including using dark patterns to make it difficult to cancel subscriptions.
The release of the new report could be a signal that the FTC is planning to pay more attention to this type of consumer fraud. The report also comes as the U.S. Department of Justice is suing Apple for monopolizing the App Store, a marketplace that generates billions of dollars in billing and sales, including digital goods and services offered through subscription apps.
A new report released Thursday delves into several types of dark patterns, including sneaking, sabotaging, nagging, coercing and social proof.
Stealth was one of the most common dark patterns in the study, and refers to the inability to turn off automatic subscription renewal during the sign-up and purchase process. 81% of the sites and apps studied used this technique to automatically renew subscriptions. In 70% of cases, subscription providers did not provide information on how to cancel a subscription, and 67% did not provide a date by which consumers had to cancel to avoid being billed again.
Interruptions are another common element in subscription apps. Interruptions make certain actions, such as canceling a subscription or bypassing a free trial, more difficult or tedious to perform. The “X” that closes an offer is grayed out, making it somewhat hidden from view.
Nagging is when a company repeatedly asks consumers to do something they want them to do. (An example of nagging, although not a subscription app, is the way TikTok repeatedly asks users to upload their contacts to the app, often after they’ve said no.)
A coercive action is one that requires consumers to take some kind of step to access a specific feature, such as filling out payment details to participate in a free trial. This was required by 66.4% of the websites and apps in the study.
Meanwhile, social proof uses the power of the crowd to influence consumers to make a purchase, usually by showing metrics related to some kind of activity. This is especially popular in the e-commerce industry, where a company can show how many other people are browsing the same product or adding it to their cart. For subscription apps, social proof can be used to encourage users to sign up for a subscription by showing how many other people are doing the same.
Our research found that 21.5% of the websites and apps we surveyed used notifications and other forms of social proof to encourage consumers to sign up for a subscription.
Sites may also try to create a sense of urgency to get consumers to buy. This is something we see regularly on Amazon and other e-commerce sites, where people are sent low-stock alerts to urge them to check out quickly, but it can be less commonly used to sell subscriptions.
Interface interference is a broad category that refers to the way apps or websites are designed to guide consumers toward making decisions that are favorable to the business. This can include pre-selecting items such as longer or more expensive subscriptions (which 22.5% of survey respondents did) or using “false hierarchies” to visually make more favorable options more prominent for the business. The latter was used by 38.3% of surveyed businesses.
Interface interference can also include what the study calls “confirmshaming,” which is the use of emotionally evocative language to manipulate a consumer’s decision-making process, such as “You don’t want to miss out, subscribe!”
The study was conducted from January 29 to February 2 as part of the annual review of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), and included 642 websites and apps that offer subscriptions. The FTC noted that it will serve as ICPEN’s chair for the period 2024-2025. Officials from 27 agencies in 26 countries participated in the study, using the dark pattern description set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). However, the scope of their work was not to determine whether any practices were illegal in the affected countries. That is a matter for individual governments to decide.
The FTC participated in ICPEN’s review, which was also conducted in collaboration with the Global Privacy Enforcement Network, a network of more than 80 privacy enforcement agencies.
This isn’t the first time the FTC has looked into the use of dark patterns. In 2022, it published a report detailing a variety of dark patterns, but it wasn’t limited to subscription websites and apps. Instead, the previous report looked at dark patterns across industries, including e-commerce and children’s apps, and the different types of dark patterns used in things like cookie consent banners.
