FTC Staff Report Details Rise In Dark Patterns

A September 2022 FTC Staff Report has revealed that manipulative marketing practices by businesses, termed "dark patterns," is on the rise. The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") is a United States government agency whose primary mission is to protect consumers and enforce civil antitrust laws. Since the advent of direct mail and brick and mortar retail, some unscrupulous businesses have utilized tactics, such as hidden disclosures and confusing cancellation policies to create unwilling repeat customers. However, the shift to online retail has created an alarming amount of growth in the sophistication and utilization of dark patterns. Coined in 2010 by a user experience specialist named Harry Brignull, the term "dark patterns" describes subtle design tricks that influence consumers into making unintended decisions, or to the same end, discourage behavior that hurts a business's bottom line. On April 29, 2021, the FTC hosted a public workshop on dark patterns and their