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front cover - digital arms for digital consumer harms - constanta rosca - 10.26481-mup.2403-v1.0 - maastricht university press 2024
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Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms

Mapping Legal and Technical Solutions for Dark Patterns in EU Consumer Law

Constanța Roșca
Combining insights from regulation theory, law and computer science, this book explores policy and digital enforcement solutions that could strengthen EU consumer protection against dark patterns – a policy priority in recent years and the near future.
front cover - digital arms for digital consumer harms - constanta rosca - 10.26481-mup.2403-v1.0 - maastricht university press 2024
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See table of contents below

 

Description

Since 2010, technologists have warned about online businesses using dark patterns in user interfaces, which are designs that may behaviorally manipulate consumers.

This book tunes into the academic debate on regulating dark patterns in EU consumer protection law. It connects it with discussions on technology regulation in law and technology scholarship to map policy solutions.

It also draws on web measurement literature to explore the technical feasibility of computationally detecting unlawful dark patterns to improve digital market enforcement. This exercise challenges policy and academic preferences for technology-neutral regulation by showing how technology neutrality may hinder the design of compliant user interfaces and the development of computational methods for digital enforcement. Its findings and recommendations are relevant to academics, policymakers, and enforcement authorities.

This book is based on the author’s doctoral research, initially presented in their PhD dissertation.
Rosca, C. (2024). Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms: Mapping Legal and Technical Solutions for Dark Patterns in EU Consumer Law. [Doctoral Thesis, Maastricht University]. ProefschriftMaken.nl. https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20241203cr

About the author

Constanța Roșca – https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7142-7138

Constanța Roșca is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw) of Leiden University’s Faculty of Law. She is part of the team working on the RESOCIAL project, which explores ways to identify, measure, and mitigate user vulnerabilities on social media platforms.

Before joining eLaw, Constanța was a PhD researcher at the Maastricht University Faculty of Law. Her PhD thesis, ‘Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms’, explores legal and technical solutions for dark patterns in EU consumer law. She defended her thesis on 2 December 2024. During her PhD, Constanța was a fellow at the Maastricht European Private Law Institute and a member of the Maastricht Law&Tech Lab.

Constanța regularly advises national and European policy-makers and enforcement authorities on digital consumer policy and its enforcement, particularly in the European Commission’s E-Enforcement Academy context.

Constanța holds an LLB (cum laude) in European Law (Maastricht University, 2017) and an LLM (cum laude) in European Law (Maastricht University, 2018). Before starting her PhD research, she was a lecturer in Private Law at Maastricht University.

Metadata and publication details

Open Access

Title
Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms

Subtitle
Mapping Legal and Technical Solutions for Dark Patterns in EU Consumer Law

Author
Constanța Roșca
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7142-7138

Copyright & Creative Commons
Open Access – CC BY 4.0 – Copyright the authors

DOI (digital version)
https://doi.org/10.26481/mup.2403

ISBN (print version)
9789403775050

Formats and versions

Language
English

Number of pages
442

Publication date
12 December 2024

Subject
Legal – Other Legal

Keywords
dark patterns, digital enforcement, consumer protection, unfair commercial practices, technology neutrality, law and technology, behavioural manipulation

Related works
This book is based on the author’s doctoral research, initially presented in their PhD dissertation.
Rosca, C. (2024). Digital Arms for Digital Consumer Harms: Mapping Legal and Technical Solutions for Dark Patterns in EU Consumer Law. [Doctoral Thesis, Maastricht University]. ProefschriftMaken.nl. https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20241203cr

Table of contents

Besides the complete book, you can also access the separate chapters in multiple formats and use the chapter DOI to refer or point to a chapter. Use the links below each chapter to access the version you like.

List of abbreviations

 

Chapter 1. Introduction

Dark patterns are user interface design practices many popular websites and apps use, leading to consumer harm and challenging existing consumer protection laws. This book explores how to effectively regulate dark patterns within EU consumer law by integrating policy and technological solutions. It aims to improve consumer protection while considering the evolving landscape of digital markets.

 

Chapter 2. A primer on web development and design

E-commerce is rapidly growing and is expected to reach $4.45 trillion in revenue by 2024. Online stores are the primary sales channel in the EU. This chapter contextualises dark patterns in terms of the technological, organisational, and economic considerations underpinning the design of e-commerce websites.

 

Chapter 3. The dark (pattern) ages

This chapter lays the foundation for discussing the regulation of dark patterns by examining them from the perspective of Human-Computer Interaction literature. It addresses their evolving meaning and terminology, the contexts in which they are used, and their effects on consumer behaviour. The study focuses on dark patterns in e-commerce websites.

 

Chapter 4. Causes for regulatory concern and regulatory design challenges

This chapter assesses whether dark patterns should be regulated and how to regulate their use effectively. The author draws on regulation theory and literature on technology regulation to answer these questions. The author illustrates why an incremental, technology-specific approach targeting the most harmful practices may be the most effective policy solution. The author also emphasises the need for adaptability in technology regulation to maintain effectiveness in light of the changing landscapes of digital consumer harm.

 

Chapter 5. EU online consumer protection

The chapter discusses EU consumer protection instruments that safeguard online consumers: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD). The author argues that the logic underpinning these instruments—technology neutrality and the preference for information remedies—may pose issues for effectively tackling dark patterns.

 

Chapter 6. Dark patterns as infringements of EU consumer law

This chapter analyses how the current legal framework—the UCPD and the CRD—applies to dark patterns and reflects on its effectiveness. The author finds that the level of protection afforded to consumers may be suboptimal and links the technological neutrality of the current legal framework to the low levels of compliance among digital market participants.

 

Chapter 7. The dark patterns policy of tomorrow

This chapter discusses the need for changes in consumer protection laws to better address consumer harms caused by dark patterns. It explores various policy options and recommendations for regulating these practices, emphasising the importance of clarity and legal certainty in the laws. The author suggests a more technology-specific approach, such as direct regulation of user interface design, that may better protect consumers.

 

Chapter 8. Digital arms for digital consumer harms?

This chapter discusses the opportunities and challenges of detecting unlawful dark patterns on shopping websites using automated methods like web crawling. It highlights that while the technology for monitoring these practices is still developing, automated detection can help digital enforcement efforts in digital consumer markets. However, the lack of technology-specific legal standards complicates effective regulation and detection.

 

Chapter 9. Summary of conclusions and final remarks

This chapter summarises the findings and recommendations of this study.

 

Bibliography

 

Acknowledgements