New Dark Patterns tip line lets you report evil tech company menus
If you’re ever annoyed by a website or app trying to trick you by using small text, brightly colored buttons, or tricky toggles, there’s a new tip line you can use to report the bad behavior, run by Consumer Reports and other advocacy groups. The Dark Patterns Tip Line aims to collect various examples of dark patterns, defined by the website as “design tactics used in websites and apps to persuade you into doing things you probably would not do otherwise,” and use those examples to fight back against the companies that are behaving poorly.
Even if you’ve never heard the term “dark pattern” before, you’ve likely come across one. Consumer Reports provides a list of examples in a tweet, and on the tip line’s site, but there are entire...