The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) published a report (pdf) on how companies use design to take “our time, money and personal data”. From the introduction:

Companies use design to take our time, money and personal data
1. desember, 2022

Many companies use deceptive design to hold on to customers, increase sales, or acquire personal data. In many cases, this is illegal, the Norwegian Consumer Council says.

An analysis from the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) shows how companies use deceptive design and unbalanced or incorrect information to push, manipulate and trick consumers into making choices that are in the companies’ own interest.

– The use of deceptive design is everywhere online. Many companies go to great lengths to steer us and our choices, which can have obvious negative consequences for consumers, says Finn Myrstad, director of digital policy in the NCC.

– Many of these companies are probably in breach of mandatory legal requirements related to information and consent. Unfortunately, legal loopholes and the lack of enforcement means that companies can often operate like this without fear of consequences.

The NCC is very active on the subject of deceptive design and published the reports “Deceived by design”, “Every step you take”, “You can log out, but you can never leave”, and “Insert Coin”.

It can be assumed that governments are also interested in these types of techniques in order to use them to persuade citizens to adopt desired behaviour.