No harm no foul: how harms caused by dark patterns are conceptualised and tackled under EU data protection, consumer and competition laws

Abstract

Although several Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) studies have empirically investigated the harms caused by dark patterns, and policymakers and regulators regard these harms as significant, they have yet to be examined from a legal perspective. This paper identifies the harms deriving from dark patterns (DP), dissecting the role that harms play in the emerging European 'dark patterns acquis'. In particular, this paper systematises the body of knowledge of dark patterns' harms from HCI scholarship and proposes a taxonomy of dark pattern harms. It reconciles the debate concerning dark patterns' harms in HCI with the legal requirements for assessing harms from the perspectives of European data protection, consumer law and competition law.

Keywords: dark patterns, harm, Human Computer Interaction, GDPR, UCPD, DMA, competition law