That X to close the pop-up window that just can’t be found, or it materializes after a few seconds of nerve-racking waiting seasoned perhaps by an advertising video. The placement of the buttons that we would expect to find on one side (for example on the right, to proceed further without adding anything else to an online shopping cart) which instead automatically includes some unsolicited service (as supporters of former President Trump are well aware). Again, leveling up: the treasure hunt to cancel an account (the so-called roach motel approach, when the opt-out becomes a business), the continuous game with colors, the verbal disincentive to refuse a certain service when we would be fully entitled to it, portraying that choice as the inevitable loss of our life’s deal.
I am the so-called dark patterns, site and application interfaces, concentrated in particular in the purchasing procedures, designed with the aim of making life more complicated for the user and pushing him to spend more, subscribe to a certain service, in a certain sense to interfere with his freedom of choice far beyond traditional and legitimate online marketing strategies, placing a series of obstacles of various kinds on the path. In large part, cognitive tricks or undue pressure, such as the useless countdown to complete a shopping session. This is a kind of reverse nudging: if in the first case people are pushed to make choices deemed healthy or more functional for them and society, on the Internet this bad user experience is deliberately produced in this way. It is not (only) the result of bad planning and superficial or chaotic choices, but a voluntary strategy of persuasion.
These strategies have long been in the crosshairs of the US and European authorities. Last year the Ccpa, which is the most recent update of the California Consumer Privacy Act, has banned much of these practices. The very stringent Californian law will also be the basis for reforms at the federal level. However, it does not entirely prohibit the use of dark patterns, but only those that “have the substantial effect of subverting or compromising users’ opt-out choices” where their personal data is involved.
tutorial
Privacy, 10 easy countermeasures to better defend ourselves
by Emanuele Capone
What is happening in Europe
For its part, the European Parliament has instead approved the Digital Service Act, one of the two major reforms in the digital sector which aims to bind Big Tech, but in general anyone who carries out online activities, to comply with more stringent regulations in terms of advertising, information and content moderation. Among the many fronts taken head-on by the draft regulation, including targeted advertising or the removal of harmful content, there are also these practices. The path of the proposal now passes to the so-called trialogue, informal negotiation attended by some representatives of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission and which precedes approval by the European Council.
The regulation introduces a ban on exploiting these techniques, with simpler paths to give consent to certain services and withdraw it later: “The European Union will require direct changes to the functioning of the platforms to offer users the possibility to easily opt out of tracking – has explained Eugenio Maddalena, digital marketing expert – The Digital Services Act still has many obstacles to overcome, and further negotiations with the European Council will begin on January 31st ”.
That said, it is important to understand that there are no platforms that are more transparent than others: for example, Apple’s recent block on tracking for advertising purposes has forced many social networks to explicitly request consent from users to continue to offer them more relevant advertisements. Often, however, this request was made by touching on the dark patterns, so baptized by the expert Harry Brignull in 2010: “If you use Instagram you may have seen a pop-up asking if you want a better advertising experience – recalled Maddalena – At the bottom there are two buttons– in a black tone, darker than the background, you can choose to Make ads less personalized; a bright blue and much more attractive button instead invites you to make your ads more personalized ”. Even in that case, in short, “Instagram purposely uses a design and a choice of words that influence users towards a precise choice. The use of terms such as App Activity and Custom instead of Tracking and Targeting causes you not to realize the permissions they are granting: most people don’t want Instagram and Meta to know everything they do and everywhere they go. But the concept of Best Experience really sounds like a positive and harmless thing. And therefore many accept. Do you understand the problem? “.