Many of New Zealand's most popular websites use ‘dark patterns’ to manipulate users – is it time to regulate?

By Cherie Lacey, Lecturer in Media Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Alex Beattie, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Science in Society, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

More than half of the most popular New Zealand websites may be unfairly manipulating visitors, according to our latest research into the use of “dark patterns” in sites with a “co.nz” domain name.

While legal, dark patterns have been described as a type of online design employed to manipulate users into “making decisions that, if fully informed and capable of selecting alternatives, they might not make”.

They’re effective because they…

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