research-article

Investigating Visual Countermeasures Against Dark Patterns in User Interfaces

Authors:

René Schäfer,

Paul Miles Preuschoff,

Jan BorchersAuthors Info & Claims

MuC '23: Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2023

Pages 161 - 172

https://doi.org/10.1145/3603555.3603563

Published: 03 September 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Dark patterns are malicious interface design strategies on the web and in apps that trick users into decisions that go against their best interests, costing them money, time, or private data. While there are approaches to classifying these patterns and investigating user awareness, there has been little work looking into visual countermeasures against dark patterns. In this work, we used an online survey to investigate concepts for six visual countermeasures against three common dark patterns: Confirmshaming, Low-stock Message, and Visual Interference. Our results indicate two opposing forces for users: On the one hand, users dislike systems actively making silent changes to their screen, preferring to be informed about the presence of dark patterns. On the other hand, they do not want applications to become visually cluttered, as this may impact their productivity. We found that different applications of dark patterns require different countermeasures, and that individual preferences vary strongly.

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Cited By

Schäfer RSahabi SBrocker ABorchers J(2024)Growing Up With Dark Patterns: How Children Perceive Malicious User Interface DesignsProceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3679318.3685358(1-17)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679318.3685358
Seaborn KItagaki TWatanabe MWang YGeng PFujii TMandai YKojima MYoshida S(2024)Deceptive, Disruptive, No Big Deal: Japanese People React to Simulated Dark Commercial PatternsExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3651099(1-8)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3651099
Gray CGunawan JSchäfer RBielova NSanchez Chamorro LSeaborn KMildner TSandhaus H(2024)Mobilizing Research and Regulatory Action on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design PracticesExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3636310(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3636310
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Investigating Visual Countermeasures Against Dark Patterns in User Interfaces
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods
      1. User studies
    2. Interaction paradigms
      1. Graphical user interfaces

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cover image ACM Other conferences

MuC '23: Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2023

September 2023

593 pages

ISBN:9798400707711

DOI:10.1145/3603555

Copyright © 2023 ACM.

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Published: 03 September 2023

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MuC '23

MuC '23: Mensch und Computer 2023

September 3 - 6, 2023

Rapperswil, Switzerland

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Cited By

Schäfer RSahabi SBrocker ABorchers J(2024)Growing Up With Dark Patterns: How Children Perceive Malicious User Interface DesignsProceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3679318.3685358(1-17)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679318.3685358
Seaborn KItagaki TWatanabe MWang YGeng PFujii TMandai YKojima MYoshida S(2024)Deceptive, Disruptive, No Big Deal: Japanese People React to Simulated Dark Commercial PatternsExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3651099(1-8)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3651099
Gray CGunawan JSchäfer RBielova NSanchez Chamorro LSeaborn KMildner TSandhaus H(2024)Mobilizing Research and Regulatory Action on Dark Patterns and Deceptive Design PracticesExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3636310(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3636310
Schäfer RPreuschoff PRöpke RSahabi SBorchers J(2024)Fighting Malicious Designs: Towards Visual Countermeasures Against Dark PatternsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642661(1-13)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642661

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