dark pattern

pattern

• Comparison prevention

  Structuring plans or products so their features and prices cannot be lined up, forcing a decision that no side-by-side reading would support.

• Confirmshaming

  Wording the decline option so that choosing it is an admission of something embarrassing, making refusal feel like a confession rather than a choice.

• Disguised ad

  An advertisement styled to look like a control or an item of content, so the click it collects was aimed at something else entirely.

• Drip pricing

  Advertising a low headline price and adding mandatory fees one screen at a time, so the true total only appears once the buyer is committed.

• Fake scarcity

  Claiming limited supply that is not real, with stock counts or demand messages generated to pressure a decision rather than report a fact.

• Fake social proof

  Manufacturing evidence that other people approve, through invented reviews, testimonials, or live activity messages nobody actually generated.

• Fake urgency

  Presenting a deadline that does not exist, usually a timer that resets on reload, so the reader hurries a decision they had time to make.

• Forced continuity

  Turning a free trial into a paid subscription automatically, with the card taken up front and no reminder before the first real charge.

• Friend spam

  Asking for access to a contact list under one pretext and using it to send invitations that appear to come from the reader.

• Misdirection

  Using contrast, size, and position to pull attention to the option the business prefers while the other option is present but visually demoted.

• Nagging

  Interrupting a task again and again with the same request, so that agreeing becomes the cheapest way to be left alone.

• Obstruction

  Putting deliberate hurdles in front of an action the business does not want taken, so the effort itself does the discouraging.

• Preselected opt-in

  Arriving at a choice with the answer that benefits the business already ticked, so consent is collected from everyone who does not notice.

• Privacy zuckering

  Steering people into sharing more about themselves than they meant to, by making the permissive choice the easy one and the private choice several clicks deep.

• Roach motel

  Making entry into a commitment take one click and exit take a phone call, a chat queue, or a buried page, so the asymmetry keeps people subscribed.

• Sneak into basket

  Adding an item the buyer never chose, an insurance, a donation, a warranty, into the cart through a preselected control found earlier in the flow.

• Trick wording

  Phrasing a choice so its plain reading is the opposite of its effect, typically through double negatives or a label that describes the wrong outcome.