Good Luck Opting Out: Manipulative Design Patterns in Opt-Out Processes

In this study, we evaluate whether major data-collecting companies’ opt-out paths for consumers utilize manipulative design practices. We do so by drawing on existing research and literature, state privacy laws, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement actions, and our own experience to develop a list of specific design elements and behaviors that constitute manipulative design while navigating an opt-out process. Then, we apply those criteria to 38 companies: 15 data brokers, four social media companies, nine other Big Tech companies, six surveillance technology vendors, and four dating apps. Using detailed spreadsheets, online archiving services, and locally stored screenshots, we then measure and document the extent to which the companies’ opt-out processes contain manipulative design elements. We find at least eight major manipulative design patterns across the 38 companies’ opt-out processes […]