# From Awareness to Action: Exploring End-User Empowerment Interventions for Dark Patterns in UX

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.17846 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.17846/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Oct 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Dark Patterns Meet GUI Agents: LLM Agent Susceptibility to Manipulative Interfaces and the Role of Human Oversight](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.10723/) (2025)
- [Measuring and mitigating overreliance to build human-compatible AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.08010/) (2025)
- [How Do Users Negotiate Harmful Value Conflicts with AI Companions? A Study with Minion, a Technology Probe for In-Situ Human-AI Conflict Response](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.07042/) (2024)
- [Designing Proactive Thought Partners for Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.01588/) (2026)
- [AI Watchdog: Agent Interfaces for Detecting and Defending Against Manipulative Dark Patterns in AI Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.21841/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The study of UX dark patterns, i.e., UI designs that seek to manipulate user behaviors, often for the benefit of online services, has drawn significant attention in the CHI and CSCW communities in recent years. To complement previous studies in addressing dark patterns from (1) the designer's perspective on education and advocacy for ethical designs; and (2) the policymaker's perspective on new regulations, we propose an end-user-empowerment intervention approach that helps users (1) raise the awareness of dark patterns and understand their underlying design intents; (2) take actions to counter the effects of dark patterns using a web augmentation approach. Through a two-phase co-design study, including 5 co-design workshops (N=12) and a 2-week technology probe study (N=15), we reported findings on the understanding of users' needs, preferences, and challenges in handling dark patterns and investigated the feedback and reactions to users' awareness of and action on dark patterns being empowered in a realistic in-situ setting.