Are you afraid of the dark? Protecting children from the harms of dark patterns

Regulators worldwide are introducing and updating laws to protect children from online harms, including the Australian Online Safety Act 2021, the EU Digital Services Act, the UK Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA), and the US Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act.

In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has built on the Children’s Code under the Data Protection Act 2018 by issuing new guidance on content moderation, which supplements the OSA guidelines issued by Ofcom. The ICO has also been working with the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to highlight the dangers of dark patterns and their impact on consumers.

Dark patterns, which can lead individuals to make harmful decisions, are of particular concern in children's online services, with one study having found 80% of popular children’s apps to contain manipulative design features. Given the heightened regulatory focus on children’s safety and deceptive user interfaces, the use of dark patterns could lead to investigations or sanctions from multiple regulators across jurisdictions.

This article, originally written for Privacy & Data Protection Journal, explores the interplay between dark patterns and children’s online safety, providing an overview of key EU and UK laws.

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