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Many of Up-to-date Zealand’s most popular websites employ ‘murky patterns’ to manipulate users – is it time for regulation?
Aug
More than half of Up-to-date Zealand’s most popular websites may be unfairly manipulating users, our study finds latest research to employ “murky patterns” on websites with the “co.nz” domain name.
Although there are legal, murky patterns Described as a type of online project used to manipulate users into “making decisions that, had they been fully aware and had the opportunity to choose alternatives, they might not have made.”
They are effective because they employ knowledge from the field of human psychology, undermine user autonomy or encourage users to least privacy friendly options.
Typical examples include the so-calledcockroach motel” where it’s straightforward to get into an online situation but challenging to get out of – for example, signing up for a streaming subscription and then trying to cancel it.
There are also hidden adswhich are presented as other types of content or navigation to entice you to click. Some retail sites employ murky patterns to entice users to spend more money.
Gloomy patterns have been widely criticized in USA and EuropeFor example, corrections to California Consumer Privacy Act seek to prohibit “the employ of hidden patterns to make it more challenging or more challenging for consumers to opt out of the sale of personal information.”
Screenshot, Author provided
However, little research has been conducted in Aotearoa Up-to-date Zealand. Trade Commission ruled against Jetstar’s pricing tactic of abandoning online shopping in 2016 but murky patterns apparently did not make it onto the government’s legislative radar.
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We found that murky patterns are a real feature of Up-to-date Zealanders’ online experiences. Our list of the top 100 local sites (based on user traffic) included media, e-commerce, government, telecommunications, real estate and banking sites.
We simulated everyday website usage: visiting the home page, scrolling and viewing multimedia content, purchasing a product, subscribing to and canceling a service.
Read more: We need code that protects our online privacy and eliminates “murky patterns” in digital design
The fuller picture was constrained by our inability to fully access some government or banking sites, but overall the results showed that 54% of sites had one or more murky patterns. The biggest offenders were e-commerce sites, followed by media sites.
Research also reveals that murky patterns tend to appear during financial transactions, homepage navigation, and when attempting to cancel a service or subscription.
Snapshot
Shopping and Media
Online shoppers most often experience a murky pattern when purchasing a product or service. Examples include a countdown timer to encourage immediate purchase, or activity notifications (such as notifying the user that other customers are viewing the same item) to induce fear of missing out.
Shoppers may also encounter a murky pattern of pop-ups when they first visit an e-commerce site. Many of these direct users to sign up for notifications or newsletters in exchange for a discounted price or advance “VIP” notification of upcoming sales.
Message consumers are particularly vulnerable to negative patterns in the form of interface disruptions that are designed to enhance engagement rates and ad revenues—for example, auto-play functionality for embedded video content.
Premium media subscribers most often encounter some obstacle when trying to cancel a service, donation or subscription – again, we are dealing with the “cockroach motel”.
Read more: The rise of murky web design: how sites manipulate you to click
Customer supervision
Another common murky pattern we observed was a form of customer surveillance – requiring online shoppers to register their personal information in order to employ a site, even if it’s just to browse products.
Not only does this enable constant contact between the company and the potential customer, but it also gives the company the opportunity to collect valuable behavioral data on consumer habits.
Read more: Daemons are the programs that run the internet. Here’s why it’s essential to understand them.
These types of murky patterns normalize the exchange of personal data for very little in return. While consent may be implied when a user shares their data, most users remain unaware of how their data will be used.
Gloomy patterns also appear to be used to reduce the cost of doing business by designing an interface that discourages certain types of communication, such as talking to a customer service representative, in favor of more cost-effective options such as “frequently asked questions” pages, online forms, or automated web chat.
Many Up-to-date Zealand websites are deliberately designed to triage customer enquiries and reduce the business costs of dealing with them.
Snapshot
Regulation vs. Education
The culture of closure is money exchange online shopping habits. Time spent online is fast growingUp-to-date Zealanders now spend an average of six hours and 39 minutes a day online.
Alongside these changes in user behavior, AI is increasingly being used to shape user experiences based on individual data profiles and behavioral histories.
As a result, people are increasingly exposed to personalized, targeted manipulation when performing their online activities – especially when shopping online.
Greater awareness of the murky arts of interface design could support users avoid this in their daily online lives. However, changes to relevant laws such as the Fair Trading Act and Privacy Act would also strengthen Up-to-date Zealanders’ consumer and privacy rights.
