Technologists have been warning about online businesses using dark patterns — designs that may behaviorally manipulate consumers — in user interfaces since 2010. This book tunes into the academic debate on the regulation of dark patterns in EU consumer protection law, and connects it with discussions on technology regulation in law and technology scholarship to map policy solutions. It also draws on web measurement literature to explore the technical feasibility of computationally detecting unlawful dark patterns in order to better enforcement in digital markets. In the course of this exercise, it challenges policy and academic preferences for technology-neutral regulation by showing how technology neutrality may stand in the way of both designing compliant user interfaces and developing computational methods for digital enforcement purposes. Its findings and recommendations are relevant for academics, policy-makers and enforcement authorities.
