Office of Consumer Protection

Stephen Levins, the Executive Director of the Office of Consumer Protection joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to update and strengthen its guidance on manipulative and deceptive tactics known as “dark patterns” in websites and apps.

The dark patterns tend to steer consumers toward making selections, and expensive financial decisions, including;

• Confirmshaming – attempts to guilt or shame the user into making certain selections
• Obstruction –  makes the user jump through unnecessary hoops to reject a service, such as making it difficult to cancel a subscription plan
• Trick questions –  use intentionally confusing prompts

Full letter sent to the FTC:

Download (PDF, 1.05MB)