Dark Patterns in Swedish Ecommerce Websites

Abstract: Dark patterns are a type of user experience technique and persuasive design where, with the help of knowledge about human behavior, a design has been created that enables users or customers to make disadvantageous decisions that you would not otherwise have made. One of the areas in which dark patterns have come to be used is ecommerce websites. This study aims to find out what type of dark patterns are used on Swedish shopping websites, how often they occur, and to gain an understanding of how people who work in the industry view the phenomenon. To do this, a taxonomy based on previous work in dark patterns has been developed. This taxonomy was used to manually analyze 96 of the largest Swedish e-commerce websites. The results showed that Hidden Costs, Low Stock Messages, Misdirections and Activity Messages were the most frequently occurring dark patterns on these websites. The interviews also showed that people working in the ecommerce industry are aware that dark patterns are used. However, they do not see it as a big problem that e-commerce websites try to influence the customer to make certain decisions as long as they do not directly use false information. With this report, we contribute insights into how, and to what extent, dark patterns are used in Swedish shopping websites and therefore also raise the awareness of coercive design and its effects.