[論文レビュー] Regulating Dark Patterns

Martin Brenncke|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 30, 2023

European and International Contract Law被引用数 7

ひとこと要約

The paper maps EU laws addressing dark patterns, explains autonomy-based regulation, and introduces a six-category taxonomy to guide regulation of online autonomy violations.

ABSTRACT

Dark patterns have become increasingly pervasive in online choice architectures, encompassing practices like subscription traps, hiding information about fees, pre-selecting options by default, nagging, and drip pricing. Regulators around the world have started to express concerns that such practices are causing substantial consumer detriment. This Article focuses on the legal response to dark patterns in the European Union. It provides the first comprehensive mapping of European Union laws expressly addressing dark patterns. The Article argues that these laws protect biased consumers and adopt autonomy as a normative lens to assess dark patterns. Consequently, regulating dark patterns in European Union law means regulating for autonomy. This normative lens is under-researched. This Article addresses this gap in research with two principle contributions. First, it works out a specific conception of autonomous decision-making, rooted in the paradigm that providing consumers with information enables consumers to make an informed decision. Second, the Article offers a novel normative classification for dark patterns in online choice architectures. It develops a taxonomy encompassing six categories of autonomy violations, specifically tailored for the assessment and regulation of dark patterns that exploit consumer behavioral biases. These categories serve multiple purposes. They uncover and make explicit the autonomy violations addressed by existing European Union laws. They delineate the contentious line between acceptable influences on consumer decision-making and autonomy violations that may warrant regulation in online choice architectures. They also provide policymakers in the EU and elsewhere with a framework when deliberating the regulation of other instances of dark patterns.

研究の動機と目的

• Map European Union laws that expressly address dark patterns.
• Develop a normative conception of autonomous decision-making in consumer contexts.
• Propose a taxonomy of autonomy violations tailored to dark patterns.
• Offer a regulatory framework and insights for policymakers on when influences cross into autonomy violations.

提案手法

• Conduct a normative analysis of autonomy as a regulatory lens.
• Develop a specific conception of autonomous decision-making grounded in informational sufficiency for informed choices.
• Create a taxonomy of six autonomy-violation categories relevant to online choice architectures.
• Analyze how existing EU laws reflect autonomy-based concerns and identify regulatory gaps.

実験結果

リサーチクエスチョン

• RQ1 How do EU laws expressly address dark patterns in online choice architectures?
• RQ2 What constitutes autonomous decision-making in the context of consumer information and choices?
• RQ3 What taxonomy of autonomy violations best captures dark patterns in online design?
• RQ4 How can the autonomy-based framework inform regulatory decisions on dark patterns in the EU and beyond.

主な発見

• Provides a comprehensive mapping of European Union laws addressing dark patterns.
• articulates a normative conception of autonomous decision-making centered on information enabling informed choices.
• Introduces a six-category taxonomy of autonomy violations tailored to dark patterns.
• Offers a normative framework to delineate acceptable influences from autonomy violations for regulation.
• Publishes implications for EU policymakers and potential relevance to other jurisdictions.