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FTC staff report on dark patterns and the EU Digital Services Act

In September 2022 FTC staff published Bringing Dark Patterns to Light, and the FTC release names four categories of deceptive design. The EU Digital Services Act has an Article 25 on deceptive interface design by online platforms. No case outcomes are stated here.

15 September 2022. Date of the FTC press release and report. The Digital Services Act is shown on an unofficial copy as Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, dated 19 October 2022; the official text was not opened. Chronology section: 2010 to 2026.

PolicyDocumentedDesign ethicsConsumer

Where it sits
Consumer applicationUse of psychology, or claims about it, in commerce, policy or product design.
Evidence level
DocumentedThe event or practice is documented by primary or authoritative sources.
Sources inspected
3 of 32 with the relevant text, company document or archive item checked, 1 as an abstract or reference article, 0 not verified.

What happened

On 15 September 2022 the US Federal Trade Commission released the staff report Bringing Dark Patterns to Light, after the Commission voted 5 to 0 at an open meeting to authorise its release. The FTC lists the report under consumer protection. In the same year the European Union adopted the Digital Services Act, whose Article 25, as shown on an unofficial copy of the text, addresses the design of online interfaces.

The psychological idea

The FTC release names four categories: misleading consumers and disguising ads, making it difficult to cancel subscriptions or charges, burying key terms and junk fees, and tricking consumers into sharing data. Its examples include sender lines posing as news outlets, cancellation promised as easy, fee information placed behind tooltips, and default settings that share viewing data. The release describes conduct and does not name psychological theories.

In practice

The release cites four enforcement examples: Effen Ads (iCloudworx), ABCmouse, LendingClub and Vizio. It describes each as an allegation, and no outcomes were checked in FTC or court records, so none are given. The unofficial text of Article 25 bars providers of online platforms from interfaces that deceive or manipulate users or materially impair free and informed decisions, and lets the Commission issue guidelines.

Why it mattered

The staff report and the Digital Services Act article show the term dark patterns reaching regulators' documents on both sides of the Atlantic. Neither document is academic evidence about how often these designs occur or how well they work on users.

Limits and qualifications

The report's own text could not be read, only the FTC press release and landing page, so its definition and caveats are unchecked. Article 25 was read on a non-official site because the official EUR-Lex pages returned no text, so paragraph numbering, scope and exclusions should be checked against the official version. Whether the Commission has issued guidelines was not checked. Allegations are not findings.

Evidence behind the claims

  • The FTC released the staff report Bringing Dark Patterns to Light on 15 September 2022, and the Commission voted 5 to 0 at an open meeting to authorise its release.

    DocumentedSource: [1]Where: Press releaseChecked at page level

  • The FTC release names four categories: misleading consumers and disguising ads; making it difficult to cancel subscriptions or charges; burying key terms and junk fees; and tricking consumers into sharing data.

    DocumentedSource: [1]Where: Press release list of categoriesChecked at page level

  • The release cites Effen Ads (iCloudworx), ABCmouse, LendingClub and Vizio as examples, describes their conduct as allegations, and reports no outcomes; examples include sender lines posing as news outlets, promised easy cancellation, fee information behind tooltips, and default settings sharing viewing activity.

    DocumentedSource: [1]Where: Examples under each categoryChecked at page level

  • The FTC report landing page is dated September 2022, is tagged under consumer protection and links a PDF of the report.

    DocumentedSource: [2]Where: Report landing pageChecked at page level

  • On an unofficial copy of the Digital Services Act, Article 25 states that providers of online platforms shall not design, organize or operate interfaces in a way that deceives or manipulates users or materially impairs their ability to make free and informed decisions.

    DocumentedSource: [3]Where: Article 25 first paragraph on an unofficial consolidated textChecked at page level

  • The unofficial text excludes from that prohibition practices covered by Directive 2005/29/EC or Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

    DocumentedSource: [3]Where: Article 25 second paragraphChecked at page level

  • The unofficial text says the Commission may issue guidelines on practices such as giving more prominence to certain choices, repeatedly requesting a choice already made, and making termination harder than subscribing.

    DocumentedSource: [3]Where: Article 25 third paragraphChecked at page level

People involved

    In the Psy101 course

    This is course relevance only. It is not evidence for the historical or corporate claims on this page.See the full course map.

    Sources and inspection

    3 of 3 sources were opened and read at the level shown. A source marked as not verified supports no claim on this page by itself.

    1. [1]
      FTC Report Shows Rise in Sophisticated Dark Patterns Designed to Trick and Trap ConsumersFederal Trade Commission. Federal Trade Commission, 2022. Report. Primary source.Relevant text checkedRead the FTC press release as returned by the fetch tool: date, 5 to 0 vote, four categories and the four named cases, all described as allegations with no outcomes.
    2. [2]
      Bringing Dark Patterns to Light (report landing page)Federal Trade Commission staff. Federal Trade Commission, 2022. Report. Primary source.Archive page readRead the report landing page (title, date, tags, PDF link). The PDF returned unreadable binary, so the report text was not read.
    3. [3]
      Digital Services Act, Article 25: Online interface design and organisationEuropean Parliament and Council (consolidated text on an unofficial site). eu-digital-services-act.com (unofficial copy of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065), 2022. Legal or regulatory text. Primary source.Reference article readRead Article 25 on an unofficial site as returned by the fetch tool. Two attempts at EUR-Lex returned no text, so the official wording and numbering were not confirmed.

    Access note: No enforcement outcome was opened from FTC or court sources, so none is stated. The report PDF and the official EUR-Lex text could not be read.

    Independent source review: Claude review agent, independent of the research agent, 2026-10-21. Verdict: pass-with-edits.