August 10, 2025, 2:41 pm | Read time: 7 minutes
You encounter them constantly—even though their use is technically not allowed in the EU—and they may have already influenced you to make purchases you wouldn’t normally consider. They are often so cleverly designed that you don’t even realize they are meant to manipulate. TECHBOOK explains the principle of so-called dark patterns in detail.
Overview
What Are Dark Patterns?
Their common name, “dark patterns,” initially reveals little about what they are. Yet, the term has become established. Its creator, UX designer Harry Brignull, now prefers to call them “deceptive patterns.” These are manipulative design elements in user interfaces. Brignull has been involved with the topic since 2010 and continues to “passionately advocate for the identification and combat of misleading design practices,” as he writes on his LinkedIn profile. Clearly, it’s a broad and ever-evolving field.
The most well-known examples of dark patterns or deceptive patterns are prompts like “Discount ending soon,” often designed as pop-ups. You encounter them frequently with budget retailers like Temu and AliExpress. But even on websites considered “reputable,” you might find phrases like “Only 1 left—act fast!”
Types of Dark Patterns
According to Harry Brignull’s definition, there are numerous different dark patterns that can be categorized in various ways. Some exert targeted pressure on users to force certain actions, while others create operational compulsion—such as by hiding options or unnecessarily complicating processes. Still, others rely on deception to extract money, data, or subscriptions or to prevent users from abandoning processes.
A comprehensive overview of these patterns can be found on Brignull’s website, “Deceptive.Design.” Some of them may already be familiar to you—such as artificial scarcity (see above) or disguised advertising, where content appears editorial but is actually commercial. TECHBOOK presents more examples below.
Comparison Prevention
This makes it difficult for users to compare products “because features and prices are combined in complex ways or because essential information is hard to find.” For better understanding, a real example from the mobile provider T-Mobile is cited, where the services of different plans are presented in slightly different bundles. In two plans, taxes and fees are included in the price, but not in the third. Since these are missing, users cannot determine which plan is cheaper.
Confirmshaming
This dark pattern (roughly translated as “shame through confirmation”) aims to evoke feelings of guilt, shame, or other unpleasant emotions in the user to influence their behavior. An example of this was provided by the first-aid kit retailer Mymedic in 2018: When trying to get users to enable browser notifications, the rejection field read, “No, I’d rather bleed to death.”
Fake Social Proof
The social phenomenon of social proof is likely familiar to you. It is based on the assumption that people often look to the behavior of others in many situations. For example, when choosing a restaurant, well-visited places are often preferred. In the digital world, social proof is also considered an indication that a product must be good if many others have bought it. The dark pattern fake social proof uses fake reviews and activity notifications to deceive users into thinking a product is particularly popular.
Forced Action
This dark pattern can be combined with others, according to the explanatory text. It offers users something they want—and demands something in return. The social network LinkedIn used this pattern in 2015. Users were shown a seemingly harmless page titled “Get Started with Your Email Address.” Below, an email address input field was a prominently highlighted “Continue” button, giving the impression that this step was mandatory. In reality, LinkedIn used it to gain access to users’ email inboxes and read their stored contacts. Admittedly, this was explained in a text, though not fully. Additionally, the notice was in hard-to-read light gray text on a blue background (see example). The “Skip this step” link was also small and placed at the edge of the page, making it easy to overlook, according to the report.
Nagging
A particularly blunt dark pattern: It deliberately aims to annoy users—”nagging.” These are prompts that keep reappearing despite being repeatedly clicked away, until you finally agree just to have peace. You’ve probably noticed this with the design of some cookie banners. Often, rejecting their use is like a small operation. Out of convenience, you end up accepting everything.
Trick Wording and More
Here, ambiguous wording and familiar expectations are used to deliberately mislead users. Since many people only skim content online rather than read every word carefully, they are particularly susceptible to such linguistic deceptions. The text seems clear at first glance, but means something else, often to the user’s detriment.
Between 2010 and 2013, Ryanair reportedly used this pattern in combination with another dark pattern—visual interference—to lead users into a cost trap. During the booking process, a dropdown menu appeared with the prompt “Please select your country of residence.” Selecting a country automatically signed you up for travel insurance. To decline it, you had to open the menu and specifically choose “No travel insurance required.” But this option was extremely well hidden: between the country options “Latvia” and “Lithuania.” A screenshot of this is published on Deceptive.Design.
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Dark Patterns in Gaming
Dark patterns are also found in online gaming, specifically: “unfair practices like purchase prompts—even to minors, non-transparent pricing, and offers that are incomprehensible or confusing to users in the context of in-game purchases.” This is detailed in a study by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations. The dark patterns are intended to lead players to make decisions that are not in their best interest, including user retention or subscriptions.
The underlying mechanisms deliberately exploit psychological effects. Players are encouraged to stay in the game longer or pay more frequently. A common pattern is offering paid shortcuts to avoid the tedious path to the next level. There are also daily rewards, countdown offers, or exclusive items available only for a limited time and only to active users. Such elements bind players to the game and create artificial urgency. Some games deliberately use dark patterns to create frustration: After several lost rounds, a power-up suddenly appears in the shop, promising to change the game in the player’s favor. Equally tricky: opaque pricing models. Virtual currencies are often offered in odd packages, so there’s almost always a small leftover amount after purchase. This is intended to entice players to spend more money.
How to Protect Yourself from Dark Patterns
Dark patterns are often designed to be difficult to recognize as such. This is precisely their trickery—and the reason they are used despite being banned. It is therefore all the more important for users to remain vigilant. The Consumer Center lists some significant precautions to significantly reduce the influence of many dark patterns.
- Don’t click on buttons or pop-ups hastily. Look closely at the options offered.
- Especially with forms, a second look is worthwhile. Are certain checkboxes pre-selected? What does it actually say?
- Also, check everything carefully in the shopping cart before completing a purchase. Occasionally, additional products or services (such as insurance) are added without you noticing. The dark pattern behind this is called Sneak into Basket. It involves sneaking products or services (such as insurance) into the shopping cart.
- Above all, don’t let yourself be pressured! Prompts like “Only 1 item left!” or “32 users currently active” are usually just meant to push you into a quick purchase.
- If wording tries to make you feel guilty (“No, thanks, I’ll pass on my luck”), ignore it. Quality convinces even without guilt.