We’ve all had that sinking feeling when you realise you’ve signed up for something online that you never meant to. Maybe a barrage of marketing spam you accepted by failing to tick a tiny box you never saw. Or perhaps you got to the last step of the checkout process on a shopping site, only to discover extra charges.
These little design tricks have a name: dark patterns. They’re the subtle ploys many digital companies use to manipulate you into doing something, such as disclosing personal or financial details.
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