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Cookie Monsters on Media Websites: Dark Patterns in Cookie Consent Notices

Authors:
Esther van Santen

Keywords: cookie consent notice; dark pattern; ethical design; media websites.

Abstract:
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation attempts to improve the protection of user’s privacy by demanding that website operators have legitimate reason to process personal data. In the context of the use of cookies, therefore usually consent is needed. The use of dark patterns stands in the way of valid consent and can be classified as unethical design. This contribution explores the occurrence and frequency of dark patterns in cookie consent notices for media outlet websites in Germany and the United States based on the taxonomy of Gray et al. Each examined cookie consent notice contained at least one dark pattern and 4,8 dark patterns on average. The dark pattern Privacy Zuckering is present on most researched websites in Germany and the U.S. The dark pattern Preselection is present on a quarter of German and U.S. American websites. The findings indicate that there are dark patterns which could be more prevalent in cookie consent notices. One newly described dark pattern could be specific to the context of consent notices on media websites.

Pages: 1 to 4

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2022

Publication date: May 22, 2022

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4529

ISBN: 978-1-61208-972-0

Location: Venice, Italy

Dates: from May 22, 2022 to May 26, 2022