The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report Thursday about how companies deploy “dark patterns” in advertising for enticing potential customers, manipulating them into making purchases and giving up their privacy in the process.
“Our report shows how more and more companies are using digital dark patterns to trick people into buying products and giving away their personal information,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This report—and our cases—send a clear message that these traps will not be tolerated.”
Dark patterns include many oft-used marketing techniques such as ads posing as independent content, burying key terms in corporate jargon, tricking customers or website visitors into giving up personal data, making use of deceptive colors, pre-checked consent boxes, language and emotion to coerce customers into making purchases, deceptively signing up for content, tricking customers into recurring charges, and making it extremely difficult to unsubscribe….