Dark patterns are website and app designs that push people into choices they would not otherwise make, such as buying more, sharing more data or staying subscribed, by deceiving or pressuring them. UK regulators call this harmful online choice architecture, and many people now prefer the term deceptive design.
How dark patterns work
Most dark patterns exploit the same shortcuts people use to decide quickly online. Common forms include:
- False urgency: a countdown timer that resets every visit, or a “sale ends tonight” that never ends.
- False scarcity: “Only 2 left” or “14 people are looking at this” when it is not true.
- Hidden costs: mandatory fees revealed only at the end of checkout, known as drip pricing.
- Sneaking: an insurance add-on or donation placed in the basket by default.
- Confirmshaming: decline buttons worded to embarrass, such as “No thanks, I prefer paying full price”.
- Subscription traps: joining takes one click, cancelling takes a phone call during office hours.
- Pre-ticked boxes for marketing consent or extras.
- Lopsided consent: a bright “Accept all” next to a faint link to “Manage settings”, with no equally easy way to refuse.
Each one works in the short term, which is why they spread. The visitor feels the cost later, as an unexpected charge, unwanted emails or a subscription they struggle to leave.
Why it matters
In the UK, several of these are unlawful as well as unkind. The Competition and Markets Authority has published research on online choice architecture, and in 2023 it issued a joint paper with the ICO on harmful design in digital markets. Since April 2025 the DMCC Act 2024 has let the CMA decide for itself that consumer law has been broken and fine businesses directly, rather than going to court first. Drip pricing and fake reviews are among the practices the Act bans outright, and the Act also sets new rules for subscription contracts, which the government is bringing in on a separate timetable.
Consent is the ICO’s concern. Under UK GDPR and PECR, cookie consent must be freely given, and the ICO has written to major UK websites about banners that make rejecting harder than accepting. A clear reject all button at the same level as accept is the safe design.
Beyond the law, dark patterns damage what marketing is trying to build. Customers who feel tricked ask for refunds, leave bad reviews, mark emails as spam and do not come back.
Common mistakes
- Installing a plugin without checking what it says. Many shop apps show “X people bought this today” from invented or recycled figures.
- Treating urgency as harmless because a competitor does it.
- Designing the cookie banner for acceptance rate rather than fair choice.
- Making cancellation harder than sign-up On the theory that friction keeps customers.
- Assuming small businesses are not noticed. Trading Standards, the ASA and customers’ own complaints reach businesses of every size.
How to act on it
Walk through your own site as a customer, from first visit to cancelling or unsubscribing. At each step, ask whether a reasonable person would feel misled or pressured if they knew how the page worked. Check every timer, stock message and “was” price against real data, and remove any that you cannot back up.
Make the honest choice as easy as the one you prefer: reject as easy as accept, cancel as easy as join, and no boxes ticked in advance. Show the full price, including mandatory fees, from the start.
When I take on a website redesign, I audit consent, pricing and urgency messages as part of the work, because removing a dark pattern is far cheaper than defending one.