Battling dark patterns: Taming the tech titans propagating them

For dark patterns being used to obtain personal data, Facebook, YouTube, and Google faced fines in France in January 2021 over making the process of refusing tracker cookies more complicated by intentionally misdirecting users. — Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

Some may regard dark patterns as “merely” unethical, but certain countries have gone so far as to treat them as outright illegal, taking legal action and fining companies caught engaging in such practices.

Even major corporations have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. For instance, Dell was fined US$6.5mil (RM30.1mil) over jacking up the prices for its monitors as part of a supposed add-on “deal” by the Australian government in mid-August.