Regulators have moved from criticizing manipulative interface design to prosecuting it, treating an obstructed cancellation flow as a deceptive practice in its own right. This hub covers those actions and the design standards emerging from them.
Dark Patterns
September 14, 2026
Between late 2024 and early 2026, 16 CFR Part 425 said three different things. The FTC's click-to-cancel amendments took effect, were vacated by the Eighth Circuit on procedural grounds weeks before full compliance was due, and were replaced by the 1973 book-club rule. This sets out what each version says, why the court ruled as it did, and what federal law governs online subscriptions today.
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Dark Patterns
September 14, 2026
California, Colorado and Connecticut define a dark pattern in nearly the same words, and each treats agreement obtained through one as no consent at all. What differs is the material around that sentence: an example-driven regulation in California, design and withdrawal rules in Colorado, and in Connecticut a statute that points to the FTC.
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Dark Patterns
August 24, 2026
Deceptive design has been criticised far longer than it has been regulated, and the two are easy to confuse. This guide separates them: what dark pattern means as a defined legal term, what the FTC can reach under section 5 after the Eighth Circuit vacated its click-to-cancel rule, which statute survived that ruling, and where the most concrete design standards in American law sit.
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