Fischer offers bipartisan bill to outlaw online use of dark patterns

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) on April 9 cosponsored bipartisan legislation that would prohibit large online operators — those having more than 100 million monthly active users — from using exploitative and deceptive practices to con consumers into giving up their personal data.

“Our bipartisan legislation seeks to curb the use of these dishonest interfaces and increase trust online,” said Sen. Fischer, who serves on the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Sen. Fischer introduced the Deceptive Experiences To Online Users Reduction (DETOUR) Act, S. 1084, with lead bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), which specifically would bar large online platforms from using deceitful digital user interfaces in websites and apps, known as “dark patterns,” to trick consumers into disclosing their personal information. 

Dark patterns are design tactics drawn from extensive behavioral psychology research that frequently are used by social media platforms to mislead consumers into agreeing to settings and practices advantageous to the company, according to information provided by Sen. Fischer’s office.  

“Any privacy policy involving consent is weakened by the presence of dark patterns,” Sen. Fischer said. “These manipulative user interfaces intentionally limit understanding and undermine consumer choice. Misleading prompts to just click the ‘OK’ button can often transfer your contacts, messages, browsing activity, photos, or location information without you even realizing it.” 

S. 1084 also would promote consumer welfare in the use of behavioral research by such providers, according to the congressional record.

“Our goal is simple: to instill a little transparency in what remains a very opaque market and ensure that consumers are able to make more informed choices about how and when to share their personal information,” Sen. Warner said.

Several industry watchdogs and corporate executives voiced support this week for S. 1084.

Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT), said the bill would help provide “a system-wide rethinking of technology policy and design.” 

“The creation of a special standards body is especially crucial to the protection of consumers, as they keep lawmakers more up-to-date and able to iterate laws at pace with the rapid change of technology,” Harris added, referencing a provision in S. 1084 that would establish an Independent Review Board, according to the bill’s text.

S. 1084 also “gets to the root of the issue — the use of manipulative and deceptive design features that trick kids and other users into giving up valuable and private information and hook them into spending more time than is healthy online,” said Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense, which he said “strongly supports” the bill to hold tech companies accountable.

Fred Humphries, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of U.S. Government Affairs; Alan Davidson, Mozilla’s vice president of global policy, trust and security; and Caitriona Fitzgerald, policy director at the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, also said they support S. 1084, which has been referred for consideration to the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.