Alexander Löbel presented at the Annual Privacy Forum 2024 in Karlstad, Sweden, the paper “Access Your Data… if You Can: An Analysis of Dark Patterns Against the Right of Access on Popular Websites”.
The Annual Privacy Forum brings together researchers, EU officials and representatives of various companies every year to promote the exchange of information on current research and developments in the field of data protection and privacy.
The study presented is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers from the fields of IT security, human-computer interaction, data protection and European law, as well as technology and communication. The study focused on the question of how so-called dark patterns – manipulative design elements that influence user decisions – hinder the right of access guaranteed by the GDPR on popular websites.
The results show that around two thirds of the websites examined (113 out of 166) have at least one dark pattern. The more of these manipulative designs are present on a website, the longer it takes users to assert their right to data access. This is particularly problematic if it leads to users exercising this right less or no longer exercising it.
In the future, there are plans to extend this research to families and children as target groups. Children in particular could be more susceptible to dark patterns, as they often have less experience in dealing with online manipulation.