If you lived in an area with around a hundred local restaurant options, but three out of every four of those gave you food poisoning, you'd probably stop going out to eat for awhile. When a "thing" becomes that big a hassle? We just opt out.
A study of 642 subscription sites and apps by the FTC found 76% used at least one dark pattern in the design, while 67% used more than one. Auto-renewal. Hidden cancellation deadlines. Follow-up charges after cancellation.
That's 487 evil apps out of 642 in just one study. Evil because it wasn't bad programming. It was intentional. Dark patterns are programming designs meant to scam users. They take your data. They won't let you unsubscribe. They bill yearly and do not issue refunds. They bill and bill and bill.
America Has Turned to the Dark Side
Dark patterns are everywhere. The Pudding has a visual essay on the topic which includes the many ways dark patterns are used to prevent unsubscribing, including for those who get close, "cancel shaming" - repeated pleas to reconsider with additional deals.
"Dark Patterns" is a cute name for consumer fraud. Why not just call it consumer fraud?
Why is this happening?
The use of dark patterns has been escalating. The AI industry is a natural hotbed for fraud since it lowers the bar for programming skill while providing 'good enough' programming faster. Targets are often consumers and dollar amounts low enough to keep people from pursuing legal action – challenging considering your first steps are hiring international counsel, translating documents, and establishing legal jurisdiction. Royal Kingdom is in Istanbul, Turkey. FanDuel in Ireland.
AI messaging apps have been used to distribute malware – MaaS (Malware-As-A-Service.) TikTok requests 59 different permissions – roughly twice the typical amount requested, and employs dark patterns. Financial apps routinely employ dark patterns.
Crapitalism is corrupt capitalism.
Dollar amounts are low, but nothing is faster than a digital transaction. AI not only speeds each transaction, it multitasks millions of them simultaneously. FanDuel includes over 400 AI-driven features that make betting lightning fast. So why does FanDuel work so hard to refuse to pay out when you win? None of these betting platforms have a good track record when it comes to returning your money: DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, etc.
Royal Kingdom, the "free" game promoted by celebrities, made over $300 million in its first year despite many claims of false advertising.
In order for billionaires to become trillionaires, that money needs to come from somewhere.
FanDuel and DraftKings together make up 75–80% of the U.S. online sports‑betting market, taking in just over $120 billion dollars in wagers in 2025. If the average bet size is $20, that equals 5 billion individual bets in a year. DraftKings reports 75% of players lose money over a typical month. So $120 billion wagered and $90 billion lost.
I don't gamble, but I do watch football... and that has been gently ruined by announcers constantly weaving FanDuel into their commentary. In addition to increasing gambling addiction, sports betting apps also dramatically increase rates of domestic violence when home teams lose.
Freedom.
Dark patterns in combination with AI are ruining mobile apps, software in general, and the Internet at large. The way to avoid all this bad stuff is to research every damn thing you want to do no matter how small before you do it. Check companies for complaints. Make sure they have an established track record of success and happy customers. Triple-fact-check the legitimacy of everything you see online, every time you go online.
I considered this, but decided it's both exhausting and depressing. Instead, until such a time as law prevails in the digital realm? I'm opting out. Deleting every app, program, or service that isn't absolutely mandatory to pay bills, travel, or work. Because you can't really fight crapitalism. The best you can do is opt out.
