A crackdown on online shopping tricks is welcome, but doesn’t go far enough

By Nauman Wajid, Lecturer in Marketing, Birmingham City University

Hurry! Only two left! Fourteen people bought this in the last hour! Fifty people are looking at this item!

Anyone who shops online will be familiar with these kinds of messages popping up on their screen. The online equivalent of a pushy salesperson, they are designed to create a sense of urgency around making a purchase.

These online tools are sometimes referred to as “dark patterns” – clever tricks built into apps and websites to encourage you to do things you may not necessarily want to do – like click the “buy” button. One…

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