EDPB Guidelines on dark patterns

Guidelines 03/2022 on deceptive design patterns in social media platform interfaces: how to recognise and avoid them

The guidelines for social media providers focus on identifying and avoiding "deceptive design patterns" in social media interfaces. These guidelines categorize deceptive design patterns into six types: Overloading, Skipping, Stirring, Obstructing, Fickle, and Left in the Dark, each with specific subtypes and examples. They also provide an assessment framework based on GDPR principles like fair processing, transparency, and data minimisation, and include best practice recommendations for user interface design. Additionally, the guidelines offer a checklist in Annex I for easy reference to these design pattern categories and examples.