Dangerous Dark Patterns: Japanese Subscription Scams

Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 03:49 pm

A dissection by the Consumer Affairs Agency reveals that the elderly’s proclivity for singular sources and a reluctance to inspect subscription nuances renders them vulnerable. An agency analyst underscores, “Compared with the digital natives, the elderly’s digital literacy gap becomes a gaping maw of trouble.”

The nomenclature “dark patterns,” coined by the British UX designer Harry Brignull in 2010, masks the nefarious dance of misdirection that has surreptitiously infiltrated Japanese online shopping platforms.

What are the “Dark Patterns” to look out for?

These sinister stratagems include a nefarious artifice involving misleading countdowns that conjure up the illusion of scarcity, compelling users to part with their money in haste. Deviously, certain websites now engage in “silent subscriptions,” discreetly preselecting subscription options upon login, leaving users unwittingly ensnared in financial commitments of their own making.

The dark sorcery of these manipulative practices is most ominously directed at the elderly, whose lack of digital fluency paints a target on their virtual backs. Crafty online retailers bend their will, coaxing them into financial binds that transcend the line between marketing finesse and brazen deceit.

A poignant testament to this malicious art was unveiled when a septuagenarian, having purchased a “trial” cleansing foam, found herself ensnared in an inexplicable second delivery, with her attempts to contact the faceless business operator leading her down a bewildering labyrinth.

Who’s the target of these dark patterns?

The government-issued Consumer White Paper of 2023 reports an unprecedented surge, with 75,478 consumer affairs consultations related to subscription purchases in 2022. The labyrinth of online deception, especially targeting the elderly, has grown exponentially.

Professor Katie Seaborn’s Tokyo Institute of Technology laboratory conducted a shadowy analysis, unveiling the pervasive use of dark patterns in over 90% of 200 popular mobile apps. These include what they term “linguistic dead-ends,” where users are trapped in a linguistic maze, forever oblivious to essential functionalities.

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Examples of their riddles include an elusive logout button, an account-deletion escape room, an unbreakable newsletter subscription puzzle, ever-present, unyielding cookie notifications, and the haunting refrain of deceptive countdown offers.

A clandestine council of Japanese experts convened in July to shine a dim torch on the growing dilemma, declaring that dark patterns “have become the bedrock of digital transactions.”

Japan’s Specified Commercial Transactions Law, revised in June 2021, now frowns upon deceptive labeling but has yet to summon comprehensive legislation. In contrast, the European Union and the U.S. state of California have raised formidable digital barricades against deceptive web designs.

Atsushi Hasegawa, professor at Musashino Art University and head of Concent Inc., the covert inquisitors of dark patterns, whispered the wisdom that even the most stringent laws can be ensnared in the digital underbrush. “Above all,” he clandestinely conveyed, “we must awaken consumers to these deceptive digital mirages. By pausing and pondering before transacting, they can cultivate an armor of vigilance.” In the silent war of digital doppelgangers, consumer awareness may be the last bastion of defense.