# Dark Patterns and the Legal Requirements of Consent Banners: An Interaction Criticism Perspective

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.10194 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.10194/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 21 Sep 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Characterizing and modeling harms from interactions with design patterns in AI interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.11370/) (2024)
- [Automated detection of dark patterns in cookie banners: how to do it poorly and why it is hard to do it any other way](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11836/) (2022)
- [On the Regulatory Potential of User Interfaces for AI Agent Governance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.00742/) (2025)
- [More Human or More AI? Visualizing Human-AI Collaboration Disclosures in Journalistic News Production](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.11072/) (2026)
- [AccessShare: Co-designing Data Access and Sharing with Blind People](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19351/) (2024)
- [From Exploration to Revelation: Detecting Dark Patterns in Mobile Apps](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.18084/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

User engagement with data privacy and security through consent banners has become a ubiquitous part of interacting with internet services. While previous work has addressed consent banners from either interaction design, legal, and ethics-focused perspectives, little research addresses the connections among multiple disciplinary approaches, including tensions and opportunities that transcend disciplinary boundaries. In this paper, we draw together perspectives and commentary from HCI, design, privacy and data protection, and legal research communities, using the language and strategies of "dark patterns" to perform an interaction criticism reading of three different types of consent banners. Our analysis builds upon designer, interface, user, and social context lenses to raise tensions and synergies that arise together in complex, contingent, and conflicting ways in the act of designing consent banners. We conclude with opportunities for transdisciplinary dialogue across legal, ethical, computer science, and interactive systems scholarship to translate matters of ethical concern into public policy.