Leaving Dark Patterns Behind: Moving Toward Bright Patterns

Technology companies have been using deceptive and manipulative interface design to persuade people to do things they would not normally do, what is often called dark patterns. Drawing from behavioural economics concept of choice architecture, platform designers created architectures that harm people’s wellbeing, and more broadly our societies. However, in the past few years policymakers started to realise design is not neutral and began to regulate dark patterns. In this talk I will discuss different types of dark patterns, how they harm individuals, our societies and democracies and what we should do about it. Specifically, I will outline how bright patterns might look and the important role of designers in strengthening democracy.

About the speaker:

Elinor Carmi is Senior Lecturer in Data Politics and Social Justice at City St George’s, University of London. She is a digital rights advocate, feminist, researcher and journalist who has been working on data/AI politics, data/AI literacies, and data/AI governance. Dr. Carmi has successfully won grants from UKRI, ESRC, and Nuffield Foundation together with colleagues from academia and NGOs.

Between 2021-2023 she won a Parliamentary Academic Fellowship working with the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee, and from May 2024 she has been an Expert Member of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office Technology Advisory Panel. She has been invited to be an expert advisor for several digital rights NGOs such as Amnesty International Tech, UNESCO, Demos, 5 Rights, Royal Society and the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman. She is a trustee for the Media and Information Literacy Alliance and an editor on the Internet Policy Review.