Tricks used in websites and apps that cause unintended user action, like buying or signing up for things that you didn’t mean to.

Example: sometimes, web forms include a little tick mark that says “Keep me logged in”, probably. You are probably used to that and it’s likely not something you think about usually. Now imagine you’re signing up for something, and there is a tick mark that is already checked for you, right beneath your password field. But instead of “Keep me logged in”, it says, “I agree to subscribe to this newsletter.” Not fun, right? That’s a dark pattern — when a product tricks you into buying or signing up to things that you actually don’t want.

For a collection fo dark patterns, visit: https://darkpatterns.org/