WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission has released the final agenda for its workshop on April 29 that will examine digital “dark patterns,” a range of potentially deceptive or unfair user interface designs used on websites and mobile apps.
FTC Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter will kick off the event, “Bringing Dark Patterns to Light: An FTC Workshop,” and will be followed by remarks from Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE).
The workshop will feature five panel discussions examining:
- What dark patterns are and why they are employed
- How dark patterns affect consumers
- How dark patterns affect communities of color; how dark patterns target children and teens; and potential strategies for dealing with dark patterns.
‘Shining a Light’
In addition, Lior Strahilevitz, Sidley Austin, professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School, will give a presentation on his paper with Jamie Luguri, “Shining a Light on Dark Patterns.”
The workshop, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. ET, will be held virtually and webcast on the FTC’s website at FTC.gov. A link to the webcast will be posted to FTC.gov and the event page shortly before the workshop begins. Registration is not required to watch the workshop.
The FTC said the event will be tweeted live from the FTC’s Twitter page (@FTC) using the hashtag #DarkPatternsFTC.