Social media platforms and online marketplaces continue to rely on manipulative or addictive designs when designing apps, criticized the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv). According to their own statements, consumer advocates investigated a total of 18 apps from providers such as Teemu, Amazon, and TikTok and identified influential design patterns, also known as “dark patterns.”
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Consumer advocates see the discovered dark patterns as a violation of the EU’s Digital Services Act and are demanding consequences for providers: “The responsible authorities must now consistently enforce existing rules. Otherwise the Digital Services Act would become a toothless Will remain like a tiger.” Jutta Gürkman, Head of Consumer Policy at VZBV saidThe EU’s planned Digital Fairness Act should also be used to prevent such practices.
Push notifications and gambling elements
In particular, the Android apps of AliExpress, Amazon, Ebay, Facebook, Instagram, Kaufland, LinkedIn, Mediamarkt, Otto, Pinterest, Shein, Snapchat, Temu, TikTok, In the period from 21 to 4 December 2024.
All providers used the so-called Hyper-Engaging Dark Pattern (HEDP) in their apps, which aims to maximize time spent on the platform and encourage purchases. These included intrusive notifications, mechanisms such as autoplay and infinite scroll, or the use of gamification and gambling elements. This will exploit psychological mechanisms such as reward, fear of loss or social pressure. This can promote addictive behavior and have negative effects on mental health, the VZBV warns. Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to these mechanisms.
One particularly noticeable pattern is the excessive use of both push notifications and email. In the tests conducted, the services Teemu, Wish and Shein, as well as social networks such as TikTok and Snapchat, sent multiple notifications every day to make users feel as if they were missing something. Countdowns and artificial shortages also occurred in online stores, creating pressure. Chinese providers Shein, Teemu and AliExpress, for example, rely on a mixture of game elements and promotions under time pressure, aimed at constantly “bombarding” users and enticing them to become impulse buyers. analysis says,
This is not the first time that consumer advocates have tried to resort to online services using dark patterns: last year, vzbv complained that platform operators such as Meta, Amazon, TikTok or Google were trying to deceive users. They were using manipulative designs. Agreeing to the most comprehensive merger of personal data.
(axk)
