Dark Patterns on the Internet Under the EU Consumer Law

Odise Xhelita and Apostolos Manthos ()
Additional contact information
Odise Xhelita: University of West Attica
Apostolos Manthos: University of West Attica

A chapter in Strategic Innovative Marketing and Tourism, 2025, pp 863-871 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This study is a literature review approach about dark patterns as unfair practices that manipulate consumer behavior as well as about the consumer’s legal protection against them. The study engages with the question how we define dark patterns on digital interfaces, covering the whole range of relationships between consumers, service providers and/or traders. Special mention is also made to consumer data protection through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), since many dark patterns include tricking consumers into giving their consent to the use of personal data in ways they might not want. Furthermore, this study engages with the enforceability of the actual EU acquis on dark patterns, considering how effective it is to ensure a balance between business and consumer interests. For a pattern to be prohibited as dark, there must be some kind of harm to consumers. Of particular importance is the infliction of financial loss, while other forms of harm may be privacy harm and time loss. The study notes that a dark pattern should be criticized regardless of the designer’s intent. Finally, the study concludes that policy interests should be seen as a tool to empower legal enforcement on dark patterns. In this attempt basic principles should be reflected on codes of conduct such as the principle of transparency and the principle of good faith. The goal of this study is to connect regulators, policymakers and business world by discussing the legal implications of the use of dark patterns in the user interface design industry.

Keywords: Dark patterns; EU consumer law; Data protection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-81962-9_93

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031819629

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-81962-9_93

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().