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EnglishWhat real-world examples of dark patterns are documented on Dark Patterns Hall of Shame?
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Dark Patterns Hall of Shame is a case library that documents real products using manipulative interface design. Its entries pair a named company with the specific dark pattern involved, a short write-up, and a publication date. The cases below are the ones the site itself surfaces, so they double as a working list of documented examples and a sense of how current the coverage is.
Documented cases on the site
| Company / product | Dark pattern(s) named | What the case describes | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preselection, Privacy Zuckering | Using member content to train AI, with consent framed around data and AI | Nov 3, 2025 | |
| Figma | Preselection, Privacy Zuckering | AI features rolled out in early 2025 with all users automatically opted in to have design files used for AI training | Sep 4, 2025 |
| Mailchimp | Trick Questions | Sign-up process built around a deceptive question format | Jun 16, 2025 |
| HRAcuity | Cookie Wall | Forcing cookie acceptance before a visitor can watch a video | Mar 29, 2025 |
| Amazon (Audible) | Roach Motel, Misdirection, Obstruction | A cancellation flow that follows classic patterns designed to complicate the process | Dec 5, 2024 |
| Phosus | Preselection | A sign-up screen that looks straightforward but auto-opts users into marketing emails | Nov 28, 2024 |
| Groww | Preselection | A "pre-approved" loan offer with a pre-checked box granting permission to check the user's credit score | Nov 15, 2024 |
| LinkedIn Premium | Roach Motel | A subscription cancellation flow that is harder than the sign-up experience suggests | Sep 22, 2024 |
| StubHub | Obstruction, Fake Scarcity | Event ticket sales practices that drew a lawsuit from the Washington, D.C. attorney general in August 2024 | Aug 12, 2024 |
| X | Preselection | A setting allowing posted content to be used to train the Grok AI model | Jul 31, 2024 |
| Nagging | Persistent prompts to download the app despite clear user disinterest | Jul 24, 2024 | |
| TikTok | Nagging | Repeated requests for notification access after the user declines | Jul 24, 2024 |
What the case mix tells you
The pattern names repeat more than the industries do. Preselection appears across social platforms, design tools, fintech apps, and email marketing, which makes it the most common single pattern in this set. Roach Motel and Obstruction cluster around subscriptions and cancellations, where the cost of friction falls on the user trying to leave. Nagging shows up specifically in mobile app prompts.
If you are using the site to check whether a product you rely on has been flagged, search by company name first, then read the pattern label. The label is what lets you compare one case to another; the write-up is what tells you whether the situation matches your own experience.
How current the coverage is
The entries above run from July 2024 to November 2025, with new cases appearing at a rough pace of one every few weeks. That cadence matters for two reasons: a company's absence from the list does not mean it has clean practices, and a company's presence reflects the state of its design at the time of publication, not necessarily today. Check the date on a case before treating it as a description of a product's current behavior.
Reading a case before you act on it
Each entry is short, often one to three minutes of reading. The useful sequence is: identify the pattern name, read what specifically triggered it, then decide whether the fix described (if any) applies to your account. For opt-out cases like Figma or X, the write-up is the part that tells you a setting exists at all. For cancellation cases like Audible or LinkedIn Premium, it tells you what the flow will put in your way before you start.